Trash Candy
by GraePearl
Summary: Gajeel had to be the unluckiest man alive. From being homeless and starving on the bank of a river, his life was one unfortunate event after another. On one particularly hapless evening, his life is intruded by a suicidal shrimp by the name of Levy. From there, the events that follow make him wonder why he didn't just look the other way. (Bungou Stray Dogs AU)
1. Problems With Dragons

A man sat by the river that ran through town, wearing tattered clothing that was a far cry from fit for the coming autumn season. The water reflected his scary facial features back at him, complete with piercings in place of eyebrows, on his pointed ears, and even metal studs in a row on his nose. Due to the setting sun, there were streaks of red and orange off the surface of the smooth flowing surface. This man looked up and took in the dying light of the day with a frown creasing his brow.

He suddenly growled kicked back to lay against the hill sloping towards the river bank. "Damn luck of mine." he mumbled. "Looks like I ain't eating tonight." He turned his sharp, red eyes to the sky and continued to watch it turn a deeper shade of crimson. "I guess this is what you get for being nobody special." He narrowed his stare so he wouldn't be blinded by the sun. "It's what I get for being a useless, good for nothing."

His mind took a one eighty all at once. He thought back to the days where he had a roof over his head, food to eat, and a bed to sleep in at the end of a long day. There was also the memory of chazuke, his favorite dish that he would whip up from what he had found laying around. It usually consisted of chopped seaweed he found on the shoreline near the orphanage. The seaweed was laid on pickled plums and leftover chicken from the day before. All of that on a bed of partially boiled rice and floating in hot water. If he really wanted to spice things up, he would go out past the tidepools and pick kelp out of their beds, salt them, and use it as a garnish.

The man's stomach rumbled thinking about the dish and it's lengthy prep time. He laid his hand over the source of the noise in a lazy attempt to cover it up. Of course it didn't work, but at least he could say he tried.

"I'm going to die of hunger."

As he lay there on the coarse grass beginning to crinkle from the dryness of an ending summer, he scowled at his own pathetic situation. "I'm Gajeel Redfox. I've been kicked out of the orphanage I called my home all because I was deemed unfit for their resources." He pushed himself off his behind and stood on shaky legs. "I can't work anywhere or get a job with my ugly mug and stupid clothes."

Gajeel ran a hand through his untamable hair. He could still hear the voices of the people who had thrown him out echoing in his head. Their sickening words twisting and turning in his mind as if he were still sixteen and afraid to stick up for himself.

 _Useless._

 _Die in a ditch._

 _We don't need someone like you._

He clenched his teeth and his fists, but refused to yell to the clouds about his troubles. "Fuck you guys, I ain't gonna die today." he snarled under his breath. He stared straight across the river and snickered to himself. "I don't care who I have to steal from to do it, but I'm gonna take all they have and run like hell!"

Suddenly, Gajeel sensed the presence of someone coming towards him. He smirked and tensed up his muscles to attack. He turned around to see a man much scrawnier than himself and looked well-to-do. It was like watching a thanksgiving turkey walk into the crosshairs of a rifle with a broken leg. The situation was almost comical on Gajeel's part. He took one step forward up the hill and mentally prepared himself to make his move. "Their ass is mine!"

But as he was about to turn to creep up the hill to attack his prey, he heard something splash into the river. While part of Gajeel told himself to keep going forward, another half of him told his feet to stop moving and set his sights back to the river. His legs did so much to Gajeel's dismay.

When he turned around, he saw a pair of legs sticking out of the water. They were making circles with the current as if the person was dead or dying. Gajeel swore he saw one of the feet twitch like in the cartoons he used watch once a week after breakfest. In fact, the whole situation was something straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon.

Gajeel watched for a minute as the legs floated past him. He didn't have any words to say or a response to a person floating down the river upside down and in circles. It was just too bizarre for his tastes. He couldn't think of anything else but to rub the back of his neck and raise his studded eyebrows. "Okay, that's just weird." He tapped his chin for a moment of thought. "Maybe the person needs a han-"

He stopped himself before he could finish his sentence and mentally slapped himself in the face. "Why should I help an idiot like that! Who the fuck gets in a situation like that!"

Even though he resolved to walk away and catch up with the man who was now far ahead, he couldn't tear his eyes from the ridiculous sight. Some crows even decided to make a new perch out of the person, landing on their shoes. Bubbles came up to the surface for a few moments, but ceased after all of them had completely popped away.

Gajeel smack himself on the forehead and removed his thin jack. "Bloody hell, you owe after this!" Before he could stop himself from making any rash decisions, he lept into the water and tried to swim against the current to save the poor soul.

* * *

Gajeel had forgotten what happened as soon as his body hit the water, but soon enough he was back where he started. He was coughing up river water with the person he had rescued laying unmoving beside him. On that day he swore to never save anyone from drowning in a river ever again. Unless that person was a child then he could make the exception.

The tried rescuer glanced over at the rescued while still trying to catch his breath. In the heat of the moment, he didn't get a good look at the person who he had jumped into a freezing river for. What he saw made him choke on his own spit.

He had assumed by the white slacks that were poking out of the water that the person was a man. Instead, it was a petite woman. She wore a tan trench coat that reached halfway down her calves with a black vest and white button down. She was obviously flat chest as evident by how her coat and shirt were all in the masculine style, fit for a person with little to no cleavage. Her shoes were the type that businessmen would prance around in during board meetings. One of the stranger details were the bandages that wrapped around her neck and arms. It made Gajeel wonder if she was seriously injured and fell off one of the bridges upstream by accident. Perhaps she wore them just for show?

Gajeel sat down, crossed his legs, and inspected her facial features after collecting his nonexistent composure. She looked fairly young for someone dressed so maturely. Her soft looking cheeks and tiny nose were tinged with a red blush. Her hair was a striking blue that rivaled the sky's own natural hue. To top it all off, there was certain air about her that spoke of mystery and awe struck wonder that the raven haired male couldn't comprehend.

This woman was an enigma.

Suddenly her eyes opened up halfway and she sat up quickly. Gajeel jumped back and uncrossed his legs with a small curse. The blunette swung her head around aloofly, regarding Gajeel for only a split second, then proceeding to ring out her sopping wet hair.

Gajeel didn't know what to say about the situation. He could just say goodbye and see if he could catch up to the man from before. On the other hand, he didn't know what to say to the water logged female as she righted her clothing and made a feeble attempt to dry out.

"Excuse me."

She turned around and set her full attention on Gajeel. When she did, Gajeel was soon lost in a pair of amber eyes that only seemed brighter in the light of the sunset. They were a stark contrast to the blue of her hair, adding to the strange charm she possessed; it was starting to freak Gajeel out.

He cleared his throat and fought back against his awkwardness. "Are you okay?"

The girl deadpanned and broke her gaze from his own. "You saved me from the river, correct?"

Gajeel was taken aback by her condescending tone. Most people who saw him took a good ten steps away because of his unsightly appearance. Being homeless and starving added to his little predicament with life and human speech. But the girl in front of him now seemed more disappointed than anything else. Then again, it was strange enough that she didn't try to swim and save herself.

"Yeah, why?"

The girl clicked her tongue as if he were a child who had done something stupid without him knowing. She placed one hand in the grass to keep herself upright as she glared at Gajeel with her golden eyes. "You were interrupting my drowning."

Gajeel felt a few brain cells pop in his brain at her odd response. "I was...what?"

His new companion waved her hand in a matter-of-factly sort of way as she continued to talk down to the taller of the two. "You know, drowning. I've read it's one of the common types of suicide among young people today." She gave her hair one last twist and the final drops of water dripped into the dirt. Gajeel stared at her with a slack mouth and almost frustrated look as she continued. "If you don't understand that, I'll make it easy for you. I was trying to commit suicide and _you_ got in my way."

Gajeel had met many people in his six years on the street. He had butted heads with schizophrenic drug lords, up and coming gangsters who were only nine to ten years old, and he even punched a politician in the face and was thanked for it. Then there was the girl in front of him who had an actual death wish and thought that trying to accomplish it in the evening with people around would be a great idea. Not to mention she was scolding the one who had saved her life.

He took a deep breath before trying to make his comeback. Gajeel pulled himself off the ground and dusted his ratty clothes to seem less frustrated than he actually was. "First off, I know what suicide is, shrimp. Second, why in the hell would you want to commit suicide and be happy about it?"

The shrimp scrunched up her nose and picked herself off the ground. She dusted off her coat and stuffed her hands in her pockets. "Well, if you must know, I have a dream!" She rubbed her chin with a proud smile on her face. "My goal is to attempt a clean suicide that won't be a bother to anyone else." Her face went sullen as she threw another half assed stare in his direction. "But it seems I've caused you some trouble, Mister tall, dark and handsome."

Gajeel was stunned by his new title to the point of almost biting his own tongue. Sure, he was taller than the average man and always carried a dark aura around him for his own self defense. It was being called handsome that made his brain take a U-turn into "Holy Shitville", population: one.

As if lady luck was adding on to his misfortune, his stomach made a loud growling sound. The girl took notice and for the first time since they met, and to further surprise Gajeel, she smiled at him. It may have been more of a means to tease him about his previous problem, it was something of a miracle that he got to be in it's warm presence.

She turned to face him with her cat like grin and positioned her hand under her chin in the shape of a check-mark. "I see you're a little hungry. Care to explain?"

Gajeel grumbled and looked away with a small pout. "I haven't eaten in two days. I don't have a job to pay for food." he admitted shamefully.

The suicidal shrimp had softened her smirk into a more genuine beam of hope. She rested her tiny hand in his shoulder and gave it a small pat. "Don't worry, I actually haven't eaten in awhile either." She took her hand away and started to pace back and forth. "I also lost my wallet in the river, so I can't pay for a meal." She threw arms into the air and chuckled a tiny bit. "Since you can't pay for food either, I guess we'll just starve together!" She clapped both hands together and stuck her thumbs up toward Gajeel. "A double suicide!"

Gajeel scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Here I thought you'd treat me to dinner for saving your sorry ass."

The girl gave him a funny look as if he was crazy. However, Gajeel didn't find it all that amusing, causing him to snap a little and throw a tantrum. "Don't give me that look! I saved you out of the goodness of my heart! The least I deserve is some kind of reward for-!"

"Hey!"

Both of them turned at the sound of someone shouting at them. Standing across the river from them was another female, but this time with far more womanly features. Instead of the lack of weight on the top side, she was well endowed with a set of boobs that would make any man go crazy. Even her light blonde hair was blowing Gajeel away. Her black dress shirt and tan vest did nothing to hide the fact she was big chested, but only accented it to the max. Her height was at about above average, but not by much. Around her neck was a red bow tied with a thin string acting in place of a regular office tie. Her dress pants matched her vest as well and made the black pop out even more. Lastly, she was clutching a note in her hand that had some kind of character on the front.

This newcomer was frowning slightly with her hip popped out. She carried herself with a sassy bit a flare in her every move. "So this is where you wondered off to!" the blonde shouted. Meanwhile, her supposed partner waved back from the other side of the river. "Lucy! I thought I lost you! Thank you for finding me!"

The woman, Lucy lost her will to be angry and cracked into a smile. "Seriously! Sometimes you are just crazy! Let me guess, another suicide attempt?"

The blunette nodded and motioned to Gajeel. "Yep, and I met someone new!"

"I can see that!" Lucy confirmed. The smaller of the two turned to Gajeel and tapped the side of her head. "How about my partner and I treat you to dinner after all?"

"Sounds fine."

"Good!" the tiny woman said. She turned on her heel and started walking along the river bank. She side cupped one of her hands and yelled back to Lucy. "We'll be right over, Lu! We're taking a break for dinner!"

Lucy waved back in confirmation. "Just hurry it up! I'm about to start eating my book, Levy!"

Gajeel raised an eyebrow as he walked behind her. "So your name is Levy?"

Levy twirled on her toe and faced Gajeel head on. She stuck out her hand and cocked her head to the side.

"The pen name is Dazai Osamu." She winked and stuffed her free hand into her pocket. "But my friends and moody hero's call me Levy!"

Gajeel rolled his eyes and accepted the handshake.

"I'm Gajeel Redfox."

* * *

Gajeel chowed down for the first time in days. Never before had he been so glad to jump into a river only to save a suicidal maniac who was sour with her rescuer. Nonetheless, he at least got to eat his favorite on more time: chazuke

His newfound companions sat on the other side of their table, munching on their food and talking back and forth. Levy had even ditched her trenchcoat and hung it over the back of her chair.

"You need to stop wandering off Lev. I know about your tendencies, but could you at least dial it down a thousand?" Lucy asked, writing down some notes in her book. Levy shrugged and gave a nervous chuckle. "What can I say? I'm hung on suicide about as much as you are with your notebook." She leaned over to read what her blonde partner was jotting on the page. "By the way, did you find anything else after I took a little detour?"

Lucy sighed and closed her notebook. "Unfortunately, all I get are sporadic dots on the map. There's not pattern where it strikes and that leaves us at a dead end." She took the notebook and stuffed it in her back pocket. "All we know is that it tends to stay on the bad side of town and comes out at night."

Gajeel paused at their conversation. Now that he thought about the two and their reasons for coming to the underbelly of the city, it didn't make sense to him. Women who came to the bad side of town were one of two things: whores or stupid. Neither seemed like the type to just aimlessly walk through their possible doom all willy nilly. While the blonde had the body and the sass, he couldn't say they were call-girls.

No, it had to be something else.

Levy noticed that Gajeel was now watching her and Lucy intently. She turned in her seat to place her full attention on him.

"So, Gajeel. If you don't mind me asking, why don't you have a job?"

He fliched at the question. It was never something he liked to talk about in front of other people. For one thing, it was his life and he had the right to his own business. On the other hand, this was also the first time anyone had ever taken concern for his personal life.

He just chose to tell half the truth.

"I was kicked out of the orphanage I had been living in my whole life about six years back. I came to the city to find a job, but I wasn't that lucky." He took a sip from his cup of water and let out a sigh. "I've been living on the streets ever since."

Levy gave a sympathetic look. "That's a shame." She leaned on the table and rest her chin on the palm of her hand. "But I think I want to ask you some questions."

Gajeel steeled himself up. Something about the whole situation was strange. One minute he was eating his dinner in peace and the next he was being interrogated. He wasn't going to run away though, he wanted to at least get some answers to his questions.

Levy didn't waste any time and jumped right in. "Are you familiar with the Armed Detective Agency? If you want, the ADA for short."

He thought for a moment. Of course he had heard of the whispers in the shadows about the detective agency before. All of the stories came from different people and it was never clear to anyone on what exactly went down, but there was one thing that was always the same. The cases they took on were of the strange and almost supernatural.

Looking at the two women, he assumed by their dress that they were potential clients or info brooker business partners.

The red eyed man narrowed his gaze until they were just paper thin slits. If he was going to be answering their questions, he may as well look somewhat intimidating. He also crossed his arms just to make sure that the shrimp got the message that he wasn't going to be an easy pedestrian that day. "I heard they're a bunch of people who are pretty damn scary if you cross them."

Levy leaned farther over the table, the gleam in her eyes growing brighter. "I know that's not all that you know. I can see it in your eyes."

Gajeel felt a lump in his throat. She knew all along that he was trying to keep the information he gave out as limited as possible. He may be able to physically overpower her in a fist fight, but in this duel of minds, she held all the cards in her hand.

He gulped and tried his best to brush off the uneasy feeling he was getting. "Um, I also heard that they handle sensitive cases. Cases that normal military police don't wanna get their hands dirty on."

Her smile grew twisted, possibly satisfied by his answer. "That's one way I've been informed about the ADA. You wouldn't happen to know anyone in the agency, would you?"

The tension in the room thickened immensely as her words coiled in midair to make the sentence come to life. Her verbal hits were starting to get more and more aggressive as he went along.

"Or perhaps," she cocked her head to the side and flashed an all too innocent smile, "You may have seen their 'dirty' line of work in practice, Mr. Redfox?" Levy dropped her facial expression entirely and opted for a more serious look. "You certainly seem like the person to know about the ins and outs of underworld rumours. Surely you know a lot more than you're letting us believe."

Lucy laid a hand on her partner's shoulder with discomfort in her pupils. "That's enough, there's no reason for treating him like a suspect, Dazai."

He had so many questions himself at that point. What were a pair of professional looking, young women want with an infamously shifty detective agency? Sure, one had a death wish, but the other seemed like a pretty sound minded person. There was a missing piece to the puzzle at hand that he couldn't quite figure out just yet. The whole set just didn't make any sense to him.

All of a sudden, the thought hit him. He chuckled under his breath and let his arms rest on the table top. "I know what you mean. You're apart of the ADA, aren't ya?"

Levy smiled and got her chin off of the palm of her hand. She proceeded to clap and give a small sitting ovation to the man. "Took you long enough to guess! I congratulate your powers of deduction, good sir!" Lucy nodded as well and pointed to herself with her notebook in hand. "My pen name is Kunikida Doppo." She reached her hand across the table to initiate a formal greeting. "But you can call me by my real name, Lucy."

Gajeel accepted the greeting and leaned back in his seat. "So what's with the pen names and all that. Shouldn't your real names be kept under lock and key?"

Levy smirked and made the check mark with her fingers and positioned the hand under her chin. "Because we feel like we can trust you." She narrowed her gaze and her lips morphed into a mysterious grin. "You won't go telling anyone we were here, will you?"

Gajeel could feel his skin crawl under her eyes. He tried not to show it as he pressed on with his numerous questions. "What do I have to lose? Besides," he matched her expression just to annoy her, "I have a few questions to ask myself."

Lucy sat up and opened her notebook, pen at the ready for any notes she may need to take for later use. "We'd be happy to take any questions you may have, Mr. Redfox." She played with her pen as she waited expectantly for him to begin. "And don't mind me, I just want to make sure that this will go on the records for later."

He nodded and turned directly to Levy. Unfortunately, she was looking past him to something hanging over his head. Gajeel followed her eyes and found that she was pondering a wooden beam above the back of his chair. There was a shimmer of curiosity in her eyes that kept her from answering any of Gajeel's questions.

The other detective noticed the other's visage and shook her head. "Come on, Levy. We don't have time for you to scout out possible places to commit suicide!"

The blunette feigned a scowl and placed a hand over her heart. "Oh Kunikida! Must you stop me from at least daydreaming about the day I can finally be rid of this cruel world?"

Gajeel couldn't believe anything he was hearing. " _The shrimp even daydreams about committing suicide? What kind of place is the ADA?"_ He thought while taking another drink of his water. He decided to not dwell on the personalities that made up the detective agency and to just roll with the punches.

Levy snapped out of her funk and then turned back to the task at hand. "Sorry about that, but you know how these things are." She picked up her fork and began to play with it. "But like Lu said, let's get back to the case at hand! Please, ask us anything within reason."

The man huffed and began to dig into his brain for the questions he wanted answers for. "First off, are the rumors on the street true that the ADA deals with 'unusual' cases?"

Lucy glanced up and raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow. Levy noticed the subtle change in the joking tone from before and intertwined her fingers together as if she were a mob boss in the old movies. "It depends what you mean by 'unusual'." Her snake-like guise returned with a vengeance. "You could mean unsolvable, too heinous for public eyes, or perhaps..."

Her pause had caused a pregnant pause at the table. Even Lucy squirmed in her seat a bit at the unease that Levy was creating. Despite that, the shrimp continued.

"Or maybe you're talking about the supernatural?"

Gajeel hadn't felt this uneasy since beginning the conversation. Sure, he may have been confused and lost about the whole situation, but this was different. The way she composed herself made him seem more like the one getting asked questions rather than him being in control. Something in the back of his mind told him that there was an underlying story to their little encounter.

As quickly as he could, he changed the subject on a dime. "Secondly, what were you two investigating in the slums?"

The smaller of the two women stuck up her pointer finger, letting him know to give her a second to prepare. She fished into her pocket and pulled out a picture of some sorts that was protected by a plastic bag. "Good thing I preserved the evidence, right?" she commented to Lucy who had began to jot down some notes. Once she had smoothed out some of wrinkles on the photo, she slide the picture across the table.

Gajeel picked up the photo and felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. It was the picture of a dark creature bunched as if about to attack. It was roughly the size of full grown tiger, maybe even a little more than that. From the lighting of the scene, he could tell the creature had black, metallic scales covering its whole body from nose to the lizard-like tail. To top it all off, the thing seemed to have wings tucked into its body, hinting that it was about to escape from the camera by air if possible.

His mind went in overdrive as he stood up and slammed both hands on the table. "Where the hell did you get this picture?" he snarled. Lucy stopped writing and flinched away from the table slightly. Levy on the other hand had held her ground and kept her all knowing smugness.

"That is what we are investigating, Mr. Redfox." Her smile grew wider. "We're Dragon Hunting."

Gajeel gulped and let his hands curl into fists. The beast's red eyes stared back as if to taunt him through some kind of unknown force. He could feel his blood start to boil over at the very sight on the thing.

He snapped his own red eyes up and continued his questioning, taking a detour from his previous intentions. Much to his dislike, Levy hand gotten up from her seat and was standing almost toe to toe with the far taller man. Gajeel had to stumble just to avoid elbowing her in the face and getting into more trouble than he was already in.

"About six years ago, strange reports of this beast have come from all around this area. They all tell the same story: a black lizard with wings and scales made of what we assume from observation is iron." She turned her amber eyes on him and let her smile drop. "But the military police only started to involve us up until four weeks ago when the supposed dragon attacked a member of the Rosso gang that ran that territory. The one who was attacked had his cellphone with him and shot this photo."

Gajeel backed away but ended up tripping and falling straight on his butt. He cursed gravity before Levy stuck her face a little too close to his. If her eyes weren't burning before, they had gone ablaze by now.

"My turn to ask a question." she said in almost a whisper. "What do you know about this dragon?"

There Gajeel sat on the ground, at the mercy of a suicidal detective that had a case to solve and nothing to lose. His every street instinct told him to run away and see if he could find someplace safe for the night. He would forget all about the ADA and return to his life of thievery without skipping a single beat. All he had to do was push her back, sweep her legs, and run before Lucy came to her partners aid.

But then he looked her directly in the eyes. Despite her odd disposition and one track mind full of delusions of suicide, there was something else there. Looking at her face up close, he could see resolve. It was unwavering, determined, and above all: strong. He couldn't deny that it was admirable that a girl half his size was interrogating him with the certainty of a mafia boss.

He wouldn't admit it outloud, but he held a small respect for her.

In light of this, he relaxed and gently pushed her face away so he could sit up. "Sorry I yelled...I'll tell you what I know..."

Levy beamed and reached out her arm to help him up. "I'm sorry, too. I was a little blunt in laying all this pressure on you." Gajeel accepted the gesture and took her hand. Together, they heaved him to his feet and went back to the table. Lucy was still confused as to what just happened, but instead choose to trust that Levy had the situation under her control.

Lucy picked the conversation back up by pointing to the picture and taking up the role of interrogator. "Can you please tell us everything you know about this thing? Even rumours may have some use in our investigation."

Gajeel settled into his chair and began everything from the beginning.

"It began back at the orphanage." He watched the ice in his glass bob in the water, trying their best to stay afloat. "That thing was attacking the chickens we raised for food."

A picture of mutilated animal parts strew across a field of snow came to mind. He hated the smell of blood then, especially since their carcasses were left to rot out in the open. Not even the falling snow could cleanse the earth of the horrible act that had been committed. "Those chickens were a main source of food for the other kids at the place. So when they were mostly slaughtered, there wasn't enough food for everyone to support the children living at the place."

The image of stained windows had darkened the scene. People stood all around him with disapprovement etched in their faces like stone. Everywhere he looked, all he saw was hatred filling the adults hearts to the brim. As a child, he still couldn't understand why.

"To make ends meet, they kicked me to the curb."

Gajeel looked back up at the woman with a new emotion in his expressions. "But that damn dragon kept on following me." He clenched his jaw and recalled the pair of red eyes always following him in the night. "It won't leave me the fuck alone!" He looked up to face Levy and laid his fist on the table. "I even saw him on the night you're talking about and didn't say anything."

Levy grinned and stood up from her seat once more. She hummed softly to herself, grabbed her coat and slipped it on. "Gajeel, you seem like the perfect assistant that we've been looking for!"

Lucy gave her partner a bewildered look. "What do you mean?" The blunette didn't answer back and instead fiddled with one of the pockets of her coat. She produced a pen and grabbed a napkin from the center of the table. She wrote something down while Lucy and Gajeel watched her with perplexed eyes.

Once she was done, the maniac folded up her napkin and handed it over to Lucy. "Take this to the chief as fast as you can." Lucy gave her a prudent frown, but left with the napkin tucked away in her notebook for safekeeping.

Levy bowed her head as Lucy was leaving in a hurry and whispered "Auf Wiedersehen, meine Freundin" under her breath. Gajeel stopped for a moment to process what she had just done. It was the first time that day he saw a small side of her that proved her to be a caring human being. The concern was hard to see past her crazy antics and strange tendencies, but still was genuine. She truly cared for her partner deeply.

That notion was quickly wiped away when she flipped up her collar and pointed to Gajeel.

"You're coming with me."

* * *

Gajeel sat on a crate while watching his new ally with a discreet eye. She also sat on a crate while holding a book in one hand and playing with a knife in the other. There was never a time she ever needed to look up and restrict herself from dropping her weapon. It made her current accomplice feel unnerved by her lax attitude.

When he had agreed to come to their current location, an abandoned warehouse not far from where the gang member was attacked, the last thing he expected was all the waiting they had to do.

He finally swung his legs off the side of his perch and turned to her. "Why am I supposed to be the bait, again?" Levy hummed in response to his question. "You're not the bait. You're just here because I feel lonely sometimes."

Gajeel wasn't pleased with the answer and sat up even straighter. "I don't mean to be rude you, but that's a load of bullshit." He picked up the knife she had supplied him just incase they ran into the dragon. "Why else would we be in this shitty warehouse in the middle of the night? You're just using me to attract the dragon."

"Not true." she alleged with more authority behind her voice. Gajeel flinched at her harsher tone of voice. She shut her book with a snap and slipped it into an inner pocket on her coat. Without a lot of effort, she jumped off her crate. "If I were going to use you as bait, why should I throw myself into the line of fire as well?" She stretched from side to side while she continued. "I would've made you walk down the street until the dragon attacked you. I doubt the dragon would come indoors considering all its prey was caught outside."

Levy stood with the confidence of a ten foot tall giant. "Besides, if it does come in here, it would be no match for me.

The red eyed man opened his mouth to protest, but when he tried to say something, he couldn't say a single word. Levy could tell that he had screwed up and strolled over to him. "I can tell that there's something else about that orphanage that made you this way." She turned around so she was leaning against the wood near Gajeel's legs. "I'm not one to pry, but I'm a very curious person. I want to know why you're so untrusting of people."

Gajeel watched her as she stuffed her hands in her pockets and let herself loosen up. "Or we can sit in silence. That's okay too."

"Nah," he replied, twirling the knife around, "I'll talk."

He took a deep breath and let himself lay back on the crate, his long black hair splayed out behind him like a pillow. "I'm not the best person in the world. I admit that all the time."

"I know how that feels."

"Yeah, well I guess we all got problems." He scratched one of his piercings on his nose and went on. "I've always taken care of business with my fists. 'You have to kill to survive' was what I was always taught. I just practice it in a less murderous way, but it was still not completed untouched by blood." Gajeel set the knife he was holding to the side. "Those people who ran the orphanage, they also liked to follow this rule religiously."

Gajeel could hear Levy shifting, but he also still felt her presence still standing beside the box. "They would call me useless and unworthy to live another day. They would always look down their noses at me as if I was a fucking moron."

He grit his teeth as their shaded faces mirrored back in his head. To keep the thoughts at bay, he placed his arm over his eyes so he could stare at something other than the ceiling. "Maybe they're right. I haven't done a single good thing for someone else before. I just mind my own bee's wax and fight when I think it's right."

Gajeel paused once more. He had no idea he had gone off on a tangent without thinking. While it was good and he felt a bit lighter on the inside, part of him still felt hollow at his childhood memories full of nothing but shadows and black.

"Hmph, that isn't true."

The pulled his arm off his face and looked up to see Levy standing over his resting body. Her face was outlined with the light of the moon and her hair appeared to glow as if she was from another world. Every tiny feature had been illuminated with light. The woman he saw wasn't the shrimp he had fished from the river that afternoon.

But the most striking factor of them all was her amber eyes that seemed to be speckled with itty, bitty golden stars. They danced around her pupils as if they themselves were alive.

"You rescued me from the river."

Gajeel dead panned and hoisted his body up. "That doesn't count. You wanted to die and I ruined your chances like the fuck up I am." He lept off the box and walked to the center of the warehouse floor. The window bathed him as well in the moon's ghostly light. "You said it yourself, I was just in the way."

Levy jumped off the box and landed neatly without a sound. "Do you know what else I said?"

"I forgot."

"Liar. Now turn and face the window."

Gajeel was addled by the order, but did as he was told and looked out the window at the moon hanging in the sky. Something about it gave him a homespun feeling, as if he had done it a billion times before. Deep in his chest, there was something stirring inside him.

"I said that I had been a burden on you." The detective turned around so that her back was to the man. "I have inconvenienced you even now. For that I am sorry."

Soon, Gajeel found that he was struggling to breath. The light was giving him goosebumps that felt like razor blades on his skin. He tried to look away from the object of his problem, but his eyes were plastered to it and refused to obey him.

"I'm deeply sorry for deceiving you, but I made a promise to two old friends that I would never die at another's hands but my own." Levy mumbled. "You came to the city six years ago and suddenly these attacks began cropping up."

Gajeel knees buckled under him as he gasped for air. He tried to dig his fingernails into the floor as if they would transform into claws. His body tingled and burned for relief of the pain he was going through, but again it wouldn't adhere his wishes.

"You were in the area that Rosso lad was mutilated and killed. Funny thing is, that same man had shot and killed a woman right before he was attacked. A witness reported seeing someone that looked very similar to you arriving on the scene only to be replaced by a lizard with iron scales and wings."

He began to snarl and cry out like an animal ready to hunt down its vulnerable prey. All he could think about was destroying the evidence that he was there. Gajeel was losing his mind, and as much as he pleaded with it, there was no escaping from the monster inside of his soul.

Gajeel's skin became black and metallic. His hands morphed until they were in the shape of a lizard's foot, claws scraping the concrete. The once flat face extended into a snout that matched the proportions of his enlarging body that was taking the shape of something knew. From his back sprouted wings that could grant him flight beyond the city and to somewhere far away.

"There was another reason that those people threw you out of the orphanage. They knew something you didn't."

Instead of Gajeel standing at the center of the room, there was only the monster from the picture, covered in black scales.

Levy turned around to see the beast staring back at her with its glowing red eyes. Even if he had changed his entire body, the eyes remained the only proof that he was Gajeel Redfox in the facade of a dragon. In the end though, she still had a job to do and she wasn't going to ruin the perfect streak with pity.

The detective clapped her hands and matched the fearsome looks of the beast. "The real dragon was you all along." Levy cracked her knuckles and flipped her unruly blue hair. "And I was hired to bring you in dead or alive. So what say you?"

Instead of his almost gravely voice, she was met with a roar that shook the very foundation of the warehouse. Levy rolled up her sleeves to her elbows while he threw his small temper tantrum. Her bandages made her seem far more pale than she actually was as they gave off a distinctly supernatural glow. Once she had secured her clothing, she bent her knees and started bouncing back and forth on her toes.

"Let's dance with death once more today, shall we?"

The dragon made his move. He snaked forward with speed far greater than any normal animal of its size. The best drew closer, bearing its fangs that seemed longer than the crates, but just not as thick. Even to the woman, this was something of a relief. The way it moved made Levy wonder if she was even there and not dreaming of something interesting to finally happen.

Much to her enjoyment, this wasn't a dream.

The beast was on top of her now, leaping at her from above in hopes to pin her to the floor and make his move. Levy wasn't impressed and slipped to the side under the monster's claws without much trouble. Gajeel in dragon form crash landed because he overshot his goal. His footing was off from the miscalculation of where his prey was going to move and caused him to slip and smash into a cluster of boxes. Said crates were broken immediately under his new weight.

Levy regained her footing right away and faced the wreckage head on with a focused expression plastered on her face. She let her hands slip into her pockets so that she could wait for her opponent.

"You're very agile in this form." she commented while rocking on the balls of her feet. "Even if you're the size of a truck, you move as if you're a only a bug in the wind."

The dragon growled and lifted itself from the mess that it made. It let out another snarl once it d stood back on steady feet, leaping back at Levy for another reckless tackle. His body flung across the distance that separated them without much effort.

Levy was ready though and once again dodged the attack promptly. Gajeel was ready this time and landed deftly behind her. The detective turned around swiftly and grinned. "You're starting to learn that my size also gives me an advantage." She pulled one hand out of her pocket and waved him on to make another move. "Show me what you can do, you overgrown iguana."

Back and forth the two went around the warehouse. Levy lept around Gajeel's feet while he gave chase to her. Whenever he got close enough, he would pounce at her in a feeble attempt to capture her in his claws. Levy just used her slim form to slip beneath him and take cover somewhere else. Every failed chance to catch her made the beast more agitated, making him attack more frequently and with much more power behind his jumps.

Finally, Levy had dodged him one last time. Her feet slide across the floor when she landed after jumping off a stack of crates. Suddenly, the side of her foot hit a wall. She turned around to find that she had been backed into a corner with no hope of escape. All she could do to ensure that it wasn't a joke was to place her hand on the cold stone. Her hand felt the rough surface through and through, it was no joke.

It was the end of their chase.

She paused for a moment before turning to see the dragon inching towards her, his tail swishing back and forth from anger. His blood red eyes were ablaze from frustration of losing his prey, but now he was taking his time to approach. He knew that she had nowhere to run.

Levy chuckled and locked her eyes with the dragon in front of her. "I guess this may be the end for me, huh big guy?"

The thing that was once her rescuer gave one last growl before flinging his full body at her. Levy could feel the breeze it created from its overpowering size hit her full on. It was enough to get time to stop moving forward normally.

"Death by getting eaten up by a dragon doesn't sound bad."

The dragon reached out its massive claws and opened its mouth to swallow her in one, decisive comp of his jaws. Crouched down in a jumping position with her arm held out to the side, she closed her eyes with a soft sigh.

"But I have no intentions of dying today."

When the dragon was only a few meters away, Levy flung herself forward and upward with her arm outstretched in front of her. She could see a flash of panic in the red eyes of her former ally as she reached out her arm mid air to touch him on his snout.

Under her hand, she felt his metallic scales as they flared with his breathing. If they weren't fighting one another, she would've been intrigued about why his body was covered in nothing but iron. It wasn't everyday that someone got to fight a dragon after all. Even as up close as she was, his eyes burned just as bright from when she saw him at the restaurant. They were full of something that went beyond what he wanted others to see.

They were the eyes of a broken man.

" _No Longer Human_." Levy hummed as her hand began to glow. Characters of all kinds floated in circles of blue and green in between her fingers, through her hair, and around her arms. The scales under her hand receded immediately as she floated gently back to the ground. The once frightening claws were disappearing as well and started to resemble a more human shape rather than an animal's. Even the snout shrank and took the form of a man's face in no time all.

By the time Levy had touched to floor with her toes, the dragon shell had melted away leaving only Gajeel on unsteady feet. His eyes went back and forth from barely open to closed before he settled with keeping them shut. He wobbled from foot to foot before leaning too far forward and began to fall.

Levy was quick and got under him before he had fallen face first on the concrete. She sucked in a breath and struggled to hold his massive weight with her petite frame as an anchoring point. "You could at least try to not be a total beefcake!" she whined while balancing his body with her slender shoulders. "Lay off the muscles, will ya!"

In the end, she laid him on the ground as gently as she could without hurting him. Once he was laying peacefully, she collapsed dramatically by his side. She leaned back on her palms and willed herself to breath easy again.

"Among other things I've done in my life, I never thought I would meet another one of your kind."

Levy pushed back a bit of stray hair smiled down at Gajeel's unconscious form. "You're tough for a man who thinks he's useless. Not to mention you're built like an ox."

She was met with silence. Her smile dropped from the lack of having someone to talk to. She hugged her knees to her chest and looked up at the full moon glaring at the two from the window. Part of her had always loved the idea of the moon always being in the sky, all big, bright, and beautiful.

Another part of her wanted a giant cloud to roll in from the east.

"Dazai Osamu!" a distinctly male voice yelled from across the warehouse. Levy stopped staring at the night and looked up at who was yelling for her.

A pink haired young man was running towards her, his boots making heavy thudding noises across the floor. Behind him was Lucy with her hair pulled up into a ponytail that kept her golden locks from getting over her shoulders and into her face.

Levy grinned and stood up to met them. "Well if it isn't the dynamic duo, Lee and Kunikida."

The blonde giggled into her fist as her and the young man stopped in front of her. The one who had yelled for her huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "You know you don't have to use my alias here." He pointed over Levy's shoulder at Gajeel. "Besides, you knocked out the bait for catching the dragon, so he won't hear us."

Lucy laid a hand on Lee's shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Natsu, he knows about the ADA and our real names."

Natsu deadpanned for a moment before scrunching up his face like a child. He even stomped his foot on the ground and turned his head away from the women. "No fair! You guys didn't tell me your real names until I was fully hired at the agency!" he whined with puckered lips. Lucy rolled her eyes and leaned in to give Natsu a peck on the cheek. "Five years and a girlfriend, yet you still act like that sixteen year old Igneel recommended to us."

Natsu loosened his arms and looked back at Lucy with a mischievous smirk. "Isn't that how you like me? Especially in the bed-"

Levy hopped up and slapped Natsu on the back of the head. He cried out in pain and scowled at his co-worker. "What the hell was that for, Dazai!"

The attacker shrugged and started to amble back over to Gajeel. "No sex life while on the job, okay _Lee Child_?" Said man pouted once more before following Levy to the sleeping Gajeel's side. Lucy came with him, reaching his side and linking their hands together like puzzle pieces. Levy said nothing even when she caught them in the act.

Natsu leaned over to get a good look at the beast of a man. "Why is he out cold?" He straightened up and looked over to Levy. "More importantly, did you take care of the dragon?" Lucy inspected the body for signs of injury, but found none. She too looked over to her short best friend. "Yeah, because saying that the dragon would show up here was kinda cryptic. Did Gajeel get hurt acting as the bait."

The blunette nodded and stretched her arms over her head. "I did take care of the dragon, but you're both wrong about Gajeel being bait." She brought her hands back down to her sides and shoved them in her pockets. "In fact I think you'll find that the real problem wasn't a wild animal, but a gifted person."

The couple tilted their heads to the side and gave her a confused frown. "What do you mean?" they said at the same time.

Levy then launched into her story starting from when she arrived at the warehouse, her and Gajeel's fight to the death, and then to her subduing him and being laid to rest for the time being. She even sprinkled in her suspicions and parts of his background, but she kept some things under wraps for the sake of his dignity. Lucy had gotten angry once or twice because of her concern for Levy's health and safety. Her boyfriend on the other hand couldn't have cared less and was upset that he couldn't have been around to see the fight.

Once she was finished with her report, Natsu tapped his chin while watching Gajeel very closely. "So you're saying that this guy is the dragon we've been chasing, not only that but he even forced you to use your ability in self-defense?"

Levy nodded and turned sullen on a dime. "Yes, and I was shocked myself at his unimaginable power." She glanced down to Gajeel who slept quietly throughout the whole ordeal. "In the wrong hands and with the wrong people, he could become an even greater threat than he was before this hoopla."

Lucy was writing down their mission report the whole time Levy told her story. After hearing the uncertainty in her partner's voice, she put away her pen and notebook to stand beside her. "We have to kill him while he's vulnerable. The military police will only treat him worse when they find out his has a gift."

The one deemed the title Kunikida laid her hand in comfort on Dazai's shoulder. "It's for the best. I'll even do it myself with _Lone Poet_."

Levy flinched at Lucy's touch. She knew in her head that the only way to end the man's suffering was to take his life permanently. Gangs would surely learn about him as well and try to recruit him to do work for food and money. From what little she learned about him in the short time that they shared, he may even agree with their empty promises if it meant not dying in a ditch. Besides, it would make sure he would never have to worry about his troubles any longer, leaving him free to fate's hands.

On the other hand, she saw a part of herself in his eyes. She remembered earlier that day when she saw him on the river bank, there was something strange. He looked determined to keep living even when others thought he was just the dirt beneath their shoes. Gajeel had even risked his own life in order to save her from drowning, as if he subconsciously saw something in Levy as well.

They were the traits of a good person who deserved a second chance.

"No." Levy affirmed. She kneeled beside Gajeel and proceeded to poke him in the face. Lucy and Natsu stood back, bewildered by her answer and her current actions. She stepped up and took a spot right next to Levy.

"What do you mean _no_?"

Levy stopped trying to wake Gajeel and instead turned to Lucy with a proud smirk on her soft face. "There's another reason why I jumped into the river today. I saw him before I decided to take the plunge." She turned back to her current delamia with a sparkle in her bright eyes. "I saw something in him the moment I had him in my sights. He needs a second chance."

She went back to her rousing duties promptly and with a bit more force. "And let's not forget the fact that in the process of attacking that man a few days ago, Gajeel also avenged a murdered woman without giving much thought to his own personal safety. That in and of itself is the qualities of a good person with a good sense of justice."

Lucy and Natsu glanced at one another and turned back to their co-worker. "But, Levy! What if we can't control him? What if he runs off and joins the Port Mafia?" the taller woman cried out to reach the ears of her friend. "We can't afford to put innocent lives in danger just because you have a hunch he'll get better."

Levy giggled at Lucy's worry as she now resorted to pinching Gajeel's studded nose shut in order to get him up. "That's just the risk we have to take. We already have Natsu on staff so how hard could it be?"

"Hey!" Natsu exclaimed. "I'm not the difficult!"

"Not anymore." Levy mumbled as she waited for something to happen.

Only after a few more seconds of waiting, Gajeel started to fidget from the lack of air he was getting into his body and began to shift under the hold on his nose. He shifted with a groan before groggily opening his eyes to see the trio standing over him. The pinching on his face was gone and replaced by a slightly throbbing sniffer.

The blunette hovered her face over his and gave him a wide grin. "Good evening, slugbug! Have a nice nap?"

Gajeel scrunched up his face and sat up. Levy gave him some room and decided to stand up and offer her hand. The ex-sleeper stared at her with a weird look. "What happened?" He swept his eyes around the damaged warehouse that had been completely and utterly destroyed. Crates were scattered around in millions of pieces, the floor had scratch marks spread out in multiple areas, and even some of the walls were scarred by something he had no idea about.

He looked up at Levy and rubbed his aching nose. "What the hell is going on?" The woman grabbed onto the sitter's arm and yanked him onto his feet. "You kinda trashed the place in a fit of unbridled rage while trying to kill me than eat me up as dessert."

Gajeel narrowed his thing gaze at her. "I did-" he stuttered and gestured to the whole inner building, "I couldn't have done all this by myself!"

Levy shrugged and slapped him on the back. "You sell yourself way too short my, my friend." She tapped her chin and observed the massive damage as well. "But the dragon did help you completely waste our repairs budget."

"Huh?" Gajeel went slack jaw at the sentence. Levy snapped her fingers as her face had jumped to realization. "Oh, I forgot! You don't remember that you turned into a dragon!"

Gajeel gave her a confounded look before breaking out into hysterical cackling. His laughter sounded as if he were going "gihi" over and over rather than a usual one that everyone seemed to use. The trio watched him as he descended in his own world of madness, staring at one of his arms with careful gazes. Once he had calmed down a little, he clutched his stomach and wiped away tears forming in the edge of his eyes.

"You're hilarious shrimp, but there's no such thing as dragons." He pointed over to Natsu and Lucy while trying to hold his composure together. "I bet you and your friends were joshing me the whole time."

Levy shrugged and stepped to his side with a smile. "I guess you got us, we did trick you."

Gajeel stood triumphant over the woman with smug written clear across his face. "Gihi~! I thought so-"

"Oh, your arm didn't change completely back." Levy interrupted while pointing to one of Gajeel's arms. She shrugged with a smirk playing upon her lips. "My mistake~!" she almost purred out of pure hilarity.

Gajeel chuckled nervously. He brought up the arm that Levy had gestured to in order to see what she meant by "didn't change back."

In place of his regular arm, there was a dragon's arm with three branch claws and one hind claw just above the wrist in the back. Metallic scales glittered in the light of the moon and reflected onto his face in a spectacle of brightness. There was no way that he could look away from what he had summoned up without his full control.

"What!" he yelled and stumbled backwards. He slapped himself on the forehead with his normal hand and started to breath heavily. "I swear this is a nightmare. I just got drunk off of some cheap booze I bought with that one guy's money." Gajeel nodded in agreement with his lie, the three detectives watching him. Levy tried her best to hold in her laughs as she watched his panic settle in like a fever he couldn't break.

Gajeel tried to remain stable, but failed to catch his breath that was running wild. He wanted to run someplace far away and find out that everything that had happened was just a figment of his imagination. No matter how hard he tried to command his body to move though, it refused against him. His feet stayed rooted to his spot, his eyes glued to his torn up shoes.

He swung his head from side to side, observing the damage he had caused. "This isn't a nightmare." he admitted, more to himself rather than the group. He started to shake under the pressure that was building on his shoulder. The fear of falling prey to his anxiety was looming over his head and threatened to crush him like a bug.

"I-I killed people, didn't I?"

 _Useless._

"Go away!"

 _People like you should die in a ditch._

"I hate you!"

 _We don't need someone like you._

"That's ENOUGH!" Gajeel screamed so loud, his voice rang in the air over and over, bouncing off the walls. Guilt and anger clawed within him and soon became deadly to his own well being.

He was spiraling back into madness.

Levy cut herself off after seeing that Gajeel was in major distress. She saw how he was about to lose himself to the dragon again and resolved to once again provide intervention. She stepped forward, hand beginning to glow like before. "I may have tricked you into somewhere you couldn't escape, but I didn't deceive you about destroying this warehouse."

Gajeel shook his head and started moving backwards. "Get back, I'll hurt you." he snarled in warning. Levy kept coming forward, ready for anything. Lucy and Natsu stood by with their arm raised incase they needed to come to their partner's aide.

"I know you're afraid, I was too when I first got my gift."

He looked up from his panic attack to see a warm light engulfing his vision. Levy stood before him with her hand on the dragon's skin. Her eyes were aflame as characters circled her and Gajeel's arms in the blinding shades of blues and greens. He swore that if he hadn't met her hours before, he would've mistaken the little woman for an angel come to take his soul far from the mortal world.

"But there are others just like you who are confused about where their paths may lie." She met his blood red eyes and melted away his pain with a single grin. "Du hast keine Angst, meinen Freund."

The light disappeared, but Levy's hand remained on Gajeel's arm. In place of the scales was real skin, tan from days in the sun and rough around the edges. It was still his skin that he had been longing for. The warmth from the shrimp's own fingers brushed over the surface and put Gajeel at ease for the first time in a long time.

Something inside him had broken away at that moment of contact. He hadn't noticed the initial impact of it at first glance, the process being slow going and all. Even so, he could feel a pang of something new catching fire in his gut.

The thing that baffled him was that he couldn't name what he was feeling.

The detective pulled her hand away, leaving behind a spot that felt empty. Gajeel snapped out of his trance and retracted his arm to his chest. The skin that had been touched still buzzed under the gentle touch of the blunette.

Levy stepped back and let her hands rest behind her back. "You have nothing to fear," She beamed as much as she could, "You're not alone anymore!"

Gajeel stared at her then looked back to his arm. New questions raced through his head, but he couldn't choose the right words to compensate for everything that Levy had done to ease his troubles, if only for a moment. All that came out was a grumble.

Levy cupped a hand to her ear and leaned a little closer. "What did you say?"

The man cleared his throat and looked away. His heart was still pounding from his episode, but it was beginning to calm down. "Thanks for the hand."

Levy smiled and gave Gajeel a thumbs up. "Glad to help." She turned on her heel and started walking towards her co-workers. Gajeel was confused and jogged on shaky legs to catch up with her surprisingly fast strides.

"Where are we going?"

The woman threw back a quick glance and motioned with her hand. Natsu and Lucy fell into step with the blunette and the four made their way to the exit of the warehouse.

"You're starting a new life with the Armed Detective Agency."

 **Que "Trash Candy" with Levy play the role of Dazai, Gajeel as Atsushi, Lucy as Kunikida, and Natsu as an add on, Lee Child!**

 **For future reference, any extra characters will also be named after famous authors of various time periods.**

 **Fanfact: Natsu's pen name was inspired by Lee Child. Lee writes action novels including the various adventures of Jack Reacher. It just fit!**

 **Thanks to my good friend KB for giving me the idea for writing this fic. I hope to do more chapters in the future.**


	2. A Certain Bomb

**Hello~!**

 **If you want to cut to the fanfic, go right ahead, but I thought I would introduce this fic a little bit.**

 **I am Graepearl, but you can call me salt pile (shout out to my homie Lapis). This is a cross over of the animes Fairy Tail and Bungou Stray Dogs. The main roles that the characters will take were explained in the last chapter.**

 **Now as one lovely Miss LunaScarletta pointed out, many of the characters (specifically Levy and Gajeel) are going to be OOC. At least for now, they may stay like that. It's only to keep the tone and plot points in check, but will change later on. BTW, Luna dear, you're the reason I decided to write more chapters. Thank you so much for your overwhelming support!**

 **For now, all I can say is that this story will mostly follow the plot of the Bungou Stray Dogs manga and anime. I will change some things to get the characters to be more like their FT personalities, but that comes later!**

 **PS, I will use German throughout the story for Levy's character as well as some other languages to spice her up and bring out her love for words. Think of it as a little learning experience for your cultural side. It's an adventure, isn't it? Translations are at the end of the chapters! Just look for the star.**

 **Without further ado, let's jump right in!**

Early morning sunlight streamed through an open into a small room with a single futon on the floor. A soft breeze disturbed a set of two flapping curtains outlined in the light. Sleeping peacefully in the warm folds of the blankets was a massive figure with his long black hair ratted up from tossing and turning all night One hand was under a lone pillow for added support to his head with the other flung over his partially exposed stomach.

This man was none other than Gajeel Redfox.

The sunlight became more intense with each passing minute until Gajeel had groaned and shifted his body onto his side. His eyelids slowly opened to let his crimson gaze stare directly into the sun. At first his eye recoiled from the sudden shift in color tone, but soon he had adjusted to the change, he sighed and heaved himself up and off the floor.

"Where...am I?"

Part of him had blanked out as he tried to remember how he had managed to find a futon to lay in for once, let alone sleep under a roof and walls that kept the wind from chilling his bones. After a moment of thought, the events of yesterday came rushing back all at once.

Meeting the suicidal detective, Levy McGarden was first. He could still clearly see her amber eyes burning into his red ones with a certain tenacity that Gajeel had yet to obtain. Then he had been treated to a decent meal courtesy of Lucy, the blunette's semi-mello partner in crime. Next came his interrogation and eventual recruitment to help catch the object of their latest case, a supposed dragon running amuck in the slums of the city.

A majority his time in the warehouse was lost to memory, but he didn't forget Levy's small talk towards the climax of the night. After his talk with Levy, everything had blanked out only to pick back up later on with him waking up. The blunette, her partner, and a newcomer nicknamed Lee Child had informed him that he was gifted with the ability to transform under certain conditions. It had brought up some old scars, but thanks to Levy he was able to control his fear and get an invitation to join the trio's elusive detective agency.

Gajeel scoffed at the absurdity of it all. "Oh yeah, now I remember." He shrugged out and let out a lazy breath. "Why do I always end up at the center of trouble?"

There was no answer but the rustling of air through curtains. Some of the breeze had blown his face and prompted him to flinch slightly away at the feeling. It had been awhile since he had felt so comfortable after waking up. No aches from the cold, no neck pains from concrete beds, not even any animals that may have crept into his hair or arms for shelter. Another good thing was not waking up to the sound of church bells and having to line up for a morning roll call. Through he hadn't had to experience that for a long time, it was another thing to be thankful for. Gajeel had actually experienced a nice rest for once in his life.

He chuckled under his breath and reached out his arms to loosen himself up for the day ahead of him. "At least the crazy shrimp's offer came with perks."

Gajeel stretched his arms over his head and let loose a loud yawn that made him wake up a bit more. He moved his arms from side to side and leaned his upper body in the same direction in order to stretch out his core muscles. After his core was thoroughly taken care of, he reached to touch his toes through the material of the blanket. Being more of a muscle oriented man, he barely brushed past his ankles. Giving up on his toes, he rolled his head and let his neck relax after a long night's sleep. When he had finished his small morning ritual, Gajeel let out sigh and pulled one knee to his chest. He looked out the window and basked in the warmth of the sun rays.

"Still can't believe she let me sleep in the dorms before I tested out the job." The man took a deep breath and let his head rest his head back on the pillow. "Might as well enjoy this before all hell breaks loose again."

He sighed and let his eyes slip close once more. Gajeel let the peace of the moment wash over his senses, from the gentle breeze to the smell of fresh cotton. Even the feeling of the sheets on his bare back had let his mind find a form of ease. He couldn't think of a better time in his life other than that one moment.

Everything about that stretch of time was heavenly.

 _DOUBLE SUICIDE! CAN'T DO IT ALONE! D-D-DOUBLE SUICIDE! CAN'T DO IT ALONE!_

Gajeel jumped out of his skin when his peace was shattered with the sound of a horrible song taking a sledgehammer to his moment. "You've gotta be fucking with me!" he protested through gritted teeth while he scrambled to find the source of the horrible tune that had looped back around to the start of its morbid chorus.

Finally after ditching his blankets and rummaging through his meager belongings that had been left in a heap next to his futon, he found a flip phone blasting the song loud and proud. He grit his teeth when he checked the collar ID that read mockingly "Dazai Osamu" in plain text. The image of a smirking Levy popped into his head and made him want to hang up on her and face the tiny woman's wrath later.

In the end, he flicked open the phone and hit the green answer button with a reluctant finger.

Gajeel lifted the phone to his ear and rubbed his face with a frown. "What is it, shrimp?"

An annoyed, feminine voice chimed in from the other side of the line to match Gajeel in attitude without missing a beat. "Morning sour puss, and that's Miss Shrimp, thank you very much!" He heard a slightly shifting from Levy's end. "If you're going to insult me, at least be a little more tactful."

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "I'll be _tactful_ when you put on a few more inches, small fry." He tossed his blankets off himself and could only imagine the look on Levy's face at his new nickname he had just conjured up. From the long pause she had taken, he guessed it was a noteworthy one too.

Levy continued on with her usually overly cheery persona from last night. "Anyway, I was calling to see how you liked your new dorm. Did you get a good night sleep, dragon boy?"

Said dragon boy had to rub his temples at Levy's choice of words. "First off, it was the best sleep of my life. Second, my name isn't _dragon boy_." There was more shifting of from the detective's end before he got an answer back.

"I know, but since the ADA takes name secrecy very seriously, we have yet to choose a nickname for you." Gajeel furrowed his brow and leaned against one of the walls in his bedroom in a lax fashion. "Why are you already deciding on a nickname when I haven't decided on if the ADA is worthy of my talents."

He heard laughing from the other line that made his scrunch up his forehead. "What's so funny, shrimp?"

The bell-like laughter had calmed down to a small giggle before he heard Levy's voice again. "The only reason you were able to transform was by accident and nothing short of luck." Her tone switched from amused to hurried on a dime. "But those details I'll have to withhold from you until you've gotten dressed in your uniform and are ready for work."

Her joyful attitude came back almost instantly, much to Gajeel's confusion. "So don't get too full of yourself, tiger!"

Gajeel pushed himself off the wall and tapped his foot restlessly on the carpet. "You're making no sense here, shrimp. I don't have any clothes other than the stuff I met you in. How do you expect me to change into something I don't have?"

Levy giggled again and shifted even more. "Look in your closet to the left of the room." Gajeel looked to his left and saw exactly what the woman had told him about, a double doored sliding closet. He walked over to it and opened it up with the phone pressed between his ear and shoulder in order to slide the doors open and listen to Levy.

"I took the liberty of buying some new threads for you. Ripped jeans and ratty t-shirts are so last decade, don't you think?"

Sitting on a pair of hangers in the closet was a clean dress shirt the was pressed and crisp white. A black tie had been left on done across the shoulders for later use. Hanging on the bar was a pair of suspenders and black dress pants with a belt already strung across the waist line. On the other hanger were a pair of unripped jeans with a new leather jacket that shined in the light from the window.

"There's a pair of shoes at the doorway and some gloves in the right pocket of the dress pants you can wear at your leisure. Everyone at the agency is required to have them, just in case of a fist fight with someone on the job."

While he almost felt it, gratitude had crept up of Gajeel like a snake. Never in his life had anyone bought something for him just because they thought he needed to have something better than beaten and worn out street clothes. She had even gotten the sizes nailed to almost a "T". He was almost scared by how close she was.

It almost convinced Gajeel she had stolen his old clothes to gauge what to get for him.

Levy must've also been a mind reader. After taking too long to say anything back to her, she coughed to get his attention. "If anything doesn't fit, let me know. I used a co-worker's clothing size as a reference. You two are about the same height and build."

Gajeel lifted the hanger with the one hand and clutched the phone with the other. He gulped before answering back. "No, you've done enough already." There was a small pause before he heard Levy talk back.

"You sound like you're having a moment. Do you need to cry? I won't judge."

The man scoffed and put the hanger back in order to start undressing with one hand. "In yer' dreams, shrimp. I don't cry that easily." He let his arm rest at his side while waiting for Levy to give her response.

"Good, becuase I don't have time to deal with an emotional twenty-something year old. I'm in a little bit of a fix right now and I need you to get me out of it as soon as you get yourself together. Sound like a plan?"

Gajeel raised a studded eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'a bit of a fix'?" An idea popped into his head right away about what she was doing and what trouble she was in. "Don't tell me you got into some bullshit suicide attempt again and it had disturbed the peace or something."

"Welll~! I guess you could say that!"

* * *

Gajeel stood in disbelief in front of a metal trash can with his mouth stretched into a flat line. His eyes narrowed into slits as he tried his best to analyze the scene before him. Comically, he felt the skin under his lids begin to twitch from annoyance.

Levy had wedged her hips and butt inside the can so that her legs were sticking out above the rim. She shoulders rested against the opposite side and let her head and neck to be exposed completely. Her smile was aloof, as if the current situation she had gotten herself into was a regular occurrence that ceased to bother her.

After the pair had stared the other down with conflicting emotions flickering in their gazes, Levy kept on her goofy smile as she started talking.

"Good, you're finally here."

Gajeel held onto his dubious expression. "You're the one who told me to change. That takes time, shrimp." He saw a hint of frustration flash briefly in her bright irises at the use of his pet name. Instead of voicing it though, having heard it already once that day, she tried her best to shrug but ended up sinking lower into the trash can. "Ah well, we both screwed up. Now hurry up and save me before I die of pain."

The now well dressed man stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared down at the almost overly joyful Levy. "First, what the hell are you doing? Are you really that stupid or did you plan this?"

"Well what do you think think is going on, dragon boy?" she asked while cocking her head to the side.

"An early morning hallucination."

"You're funny. You should be a comedian." She shifted her body a bit, but just like before, she had gotten herself more stuck. Her neck was now below the barrel's rim with the back of her cranium partially resting on the metal siding. "Just kidding, this isn't what you think." she groaned from the discomfort she was trying to endure.

Levy rolled her ankles as if she was getting her blood to keep circulating despite her legs starting to get above her head. "I heard about this new method of suicide on an online chat forum, so being me I couldn't help myself; I had to try it out." She wiggled her tiny body and lifted one hand up to tap her chin. "Apparently the trick is to keep the bottom fixed and to use a metal garbage can. I knew we had one here at the dorms and gave it a try."

"Ok," her companion said and gave the metal a good knock, "but how did you end up getting so stuck?"

"I tried to use the muscles in my midsection, but I ended up getting lower and lower." She pointed to an open window on the wall of the dorm building. "I heard you wake up, it being very quiet this morning, and I thought I could count on you to help me out!"

Gajeel deadpanned and motioned to her. "Why should I help you? Isn't this a good thing for you? I thought you wanted to commit a clean suicide without bothering anyone?"

The shrimp abandoned her beaming face for a scowl and grit her teeth as hard as she could before speaking. "Yeah, but this method just hurts and does nothing but make the dying part too drawn out." She let her arm rest on her stomach. "Plus, my tummy and hips feel like their gonna burst."

"But you're almost there. How could I stop you now-?"

Levy glared at him in all of her five foot tall glory and almost snarled out "I can and will dock your pay if you make up any more excuses. I can also hire someone twice your size to shove you in here just to spite. So you better help me or you're sleeping in this death trap tonight."

Gajeel felt a slight shiver run up his spine. While she herself was only the height of a junior high student at best, she could be threatening when she wanted. There was no way he could ignore her even if she was completely helpless. Not to mention the ADA would find out. For all Gajeel knew, he would end up following her straight to hell. He stepped forward and grasped the rim of the garbage can. "Just hold on, shrimp. I'll get you out."

"Excellent choice."

* * *

 _My name is Gajeel Redfox._

 _After six years of accidentally transforming into a dragon without me knowing, I had become the target of the Armed Detective Agency._

 _More specifically, it was a shrimp of a woman named Levy who had cracked the case and explained the whole supernatural powers thing to me. Her power, "No Longer Human" gives her the ability to nullify other abilities through mutual contact. This ability also gained herself the title of Dazai Osamu, detective and suicidal maniac of the ADA._

 _She seems to be pretty famous amongst her colleagues who are just as confused about her tendencies as I am. They also have special abilities that earned them their spot in the ADA's gallery of gifted agents. Each person is assigned an alias to use on cases and around the public area for the safety of the agency and its detectives._

 _And now, I'm one of those people in the line up. At least maybe._

 _For now, my ability has been named "Beast Under The Moonlight", the ability to transform into a dragon in the light of the moon._

 _It's as fucking cheesy as it sounds._

* * *

Levy and Gajeel walked down a crowded street side by side. The shorter of the pair was stretching from side to side and twisting her torso in order to get out the aches she had experienced from being trapped for so long. Her partner watched silently and just enjoyed his donut that the blunette had bought him for breakfast. He had finished his coffee not too long ago and with its help, he had fully woken up to face the long day ahead.

As he watched his superior stretch, a question popped into his head. He finished of his final bite and tossed his trash away in a nearby can before falling into step with Levy. "Hey, can I ask you something?" Levy looked over at Gajeel and stopped loosening herself up. "Sure, that's what I'm here for."

Gajeel pointed to Levy's pocket that had the woman's cell phone peaking out of. "If you could call anyone, why did you choose me of all people? There must've been someone more qualified than me, and more willing."

Levy nodded and kept on straight ahead. "I did call Kunikida. It didn't go down how I wanted it to, if I'm being honest anyway."

"Let me guess," the shapeshifter interjected, "Did she congratulate you?"

The detective giggled into her fist. "I take back saying you should be a comedian. You'll make it big as a psychic with those observational skills." She opened her palms forward as if she was about to argue and looked up at the taller male. "Not only that, but when I asked for help and she gave her regards, Kunikida hung up before I could explain what horrible pain I was going through to achieve my dream." She flung her arms up into the air dramatically and let out a dry laugh. "And I thought best friends were supposed to help each other out. I love that woman, but sometimes I want to take her on in a fight!"

Once again, Gajeel just had to slap himself on the forehead with his gloved hand. "So this is what I'm getting into, huh?"

"Yep!"

The two fell into a comfortable silence. They had finished walking through the thick of the crowd and turned onto a less crowded street with smaller buildings. All of them were on the older sides with bricks opposed to metal and solid concrete. Some were the cookie cutter chain shops with multiple floors while others were privately owned businesses of all types and sizes. The sidewalks were much cleaner with signs outside some of the doors in order to draw in passersby. Gajeel thought it was kinda charming that a place like this existed in the rough and tough city. He thought that he would check out the venues after work with the help of Levy so he wouldn't get lost.

After a moment of silence, he glanced back at the shrimp. It dawned on him that he had no idea where they were going; he had just been blindly following her around the city all morning long. He leaned down a little so that he could get her full attention.

"So Dazai, where are we going?"

Said Dazai perked up at the use of her fake title. Levy tilted her head upward to flash a satisfied smirk in his direction. "Since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you."

She pointed down the street in the direction they were heading with her characteristically bandaged arm. "Today, you and I have an assignment that needs some TLC. You know, new leads on a new and potentially critical case and all." She let her hands sink into her pockets once more. "We just need to stop by the agency real quick to pick up some notes for the job."

Gajeel stood a bit taller and grinned. "Really? I get to go on a job already? Don't I have to get an interview or something first?"

Levy waved her hand at him and shook her head. "Das macht nichts, meinen Freund!"* She pointed to her chest with a confident spring now in her step. "Leave everything to me, Dazai!" Her expression only doubled in smugness as they went on their way. "The director trusts my judgment as if its law. You'll be just fine-."

"There you are, you bandage waster!"

Levy stopped mid sentence as someone from behind her and Gajeel yelled at them. Both turned their heads towards the shouting and saw someone with striking pink hair come running towards them at high speeds. Said bandage waster put a hand above her eyes and squinted at the fast approaching figure in the distance.

When the person got close enough, Gajeel recognized the runner as the man who was one of the detectives from the night before. His wild cherry hair whipped behind him and suddenly flopped forward as he made a sharp stop in front of Levy. He stared her down with wild eyes and his hand over his chest, as if he was trying to catch his missing breath. Nonetheless, he straightened up and adjusted his yellow lined, black vest and ran a hand through his disheveled hair.

Levy took in the newcomer's exasperated face with a calm persona. She almost seemed bored with his appearance as if this had happened multiple times before. After her moment of observation, she placed her hand over her heart and looked away from the fellow detective as if she was physically smacked.

"Bandage waster? You hurt me Child!" she exclaimed with all the drama of a stage performer giving their best. "I have a heart too, monster!"

Child huffed and crossed his arms over his chest while staring down the shrimp with sharp, dark green eyes. "You have no room to talk!" The pinkette rubbed his arm as if he had gotten punched. "I still have bruises from our last sparring match!"

Levy still averted her eyes, but instead of a despaired frown, she replaced it with an amused smirk. "Not my fault that you're a glass cannon." She uncovered her face and gave her co-worker a mischievous look. "And not to mention that when someone makes fun of Kunikida, you turn into a big pile of fluff and rage. It makes you open to precise attacks that require strategy and experience."

Her expression grew more snarky as she finished off their verbal fight with "And you don't have half a brain to counter it."

Child puffed out his cheeks and looked the other direction. A slight blush dusted his roughly defined cheeks as he pouted like he was three years old instead of an adult. "That's what boyfriends are supposed to do, suicidal idiot."

Dazai snorted and flicked the detective on the forehead. Her rolled up sleeves stretched as she stretched upwards on her tiptoes. "That's what puppies do, not grown men with steady jobs."

Gajeel watched the exchange with a quizzical glare. When he heard the rumors of the ADA on the back alleys of the city, he expected brutal and ruthless people who dealt out pain like it was a free meal. He also had the picture of faces plagued in shadows and webs of lies that had been spun from their shady reputation. That was the expectation many people held up about the agency and then some.

But looking at the love sick man and sassy shrimp of a woman before him, he wondered why in the hell he had even considered those possibilities. The agency members were more like bickering siblings, and that's only a placeholder for lack of a better example.

But that was just his opinion on the topic.

"What did I get myself in to?"

The two heard his comment and turned to face Gajeel. The male detective smirked and faced the beast of a man head on. After taking a quick look around for any nearby pedestrians, Child stuck out his hand and met Gajeel's imposing, red eyes head on. "I'm Natsu Dragneel, but my pen name is Lee Child."

Gajeel looked at his hand for a second before taking it in his much larger one. "I'm Gajeel Redfox. I don't have an alias yet."

They shook hands and pulled away to stand more relaxed than before in front of each other. "Don't worry, the director will assign you one if he says you're in." Natsu gave a confident grin that was much more genuine than his previous one. "But knowing him, you'll get in because of you're badass ability."

Levy stepped in between the two and gave Natsu a sharp look. "Speaking of work related topics, why did you come charging down the street as if I had murdered your cat and left his remains in a box?"

After she asked her question, Natsu put on a more serious frown and gave Levy a sullen look. "Dazai, there's an emergency at headquarters."

The shrimp perked up at the mention of an emergency. She shoved her hands into her pockets and nodded with her head in the direction that she and Gajeel had been heading in to begin with. "Let's not waste time then. Tell me what's going on while we make our way there, and don't be superfluous like last time."

Gajeel and Child both trailed behind Levy as she picked up her amble to a speedy gait. The shorter of the two men stepped up to give his report to the tiny woman.

"A bomber has barricaded himself in the agency and taken Anderson hostage."

* * *

A young man sat on top of an office desk, his well toned frame outlined in the morning light about to become afternoon rays. His raven hair was tossed around in a wild matter with his teeth gritted tight enough to make a resounding noise of bone on bone rubbing against each other. From the man's neck hung a silver necklace of a decadent cross that reflected in every direction around the office space. In his left hand was a remote control being clutched like a life line, blood veins popping out on the surface of his skin.

In front of the desk, a woman with long and wavy blue hair was gagged and tied up by the wrists. Her cerulean dress fanned out beneath her as if she was resting on a soft spot of water, complimenting her curvy figure. Her dark brown eyes flashed with fear as she searched for anyone to rescue her from the dire situation at hand.

Standing against the walls were five business dressed men and women, watching the hostage shiver and shake under her captor. Two of the ladies held onto one another and whispered under their breaths while waiting for something to happen. The three others, two men and a woman just watched the quivering captive with helpless expressions.

Suddenly, the man the desk trained his eyes on his remote; his fingers tightened around the device.

" _Enough_ ," he snarled under his breath, "I've had _enough_."

He made a U-turn and laid his full attention on the people lined up near the wall. "It's all your fault." Some sweat dropped down the side of his face as his eyes went wild with rage etched onto his every feature.

"IT'S ALL THE ADA'S FAULT!" he screamed out, spit flying out of his mouth. The women flinched back and whimpered at the man's brash behavior. The men stepped in front of their fellow co-workers and tried their best to seem intimidating despite the hostile bomber's shift in sanity.

The man didn't calm down despite their reactions. He whipped his head around the office with killing intent in his every little move. "Where's the director?" he asked. When no one answered him, he grabbed the back of the hostage's dress and yanked her closer to the desk. Her eyes went wide and she flinched against the rough treatment. Through her makeshift gag, she managed a squeal of fright.

"GET HIM OR ELSE I'LL BLOW THIS PLACE SKY HIGH!" he roared at what seemed to be the top of his lungs. The woman in his custody was now crying as quiet as she could. The emotional stress she was under had been written clear in her body language.

The situation was getting nasty.

Hiding behind a wall and reception desk was Levy, Gajeel, and Natsu. The shortest of the three was peaking over the table top to get a clear read of the situation. Gajeel tried his best to crouch beside her, watching everything play out as calmly as he could. Natsu had stashed himself behind a wall with his back to the scene at hand.

After a moment of contemplation, Levy nodded and turned to get closer to her partners. Natsu leaned his head down and Gajeel watched as the detectives conversed with one another on a strategy.

"It's obviously a grudge, so that means one wrong move and the walls are getting a remodeling in red." Natsu deduced while daring to peer out from behind his hiding spot. Thankfully, their target was too preoccupied with throwing a temper tantrum than focusing on the trio plotting on the opposite side of the room.

Levy tapped her chin and nodded in agreement. "There won't be a wall to stain with those kinds of explosives." Gajeel followed her gaze as it darted back towards the bomber and the unlucky woman with the dress. He raised his head a little higher to see a pile of wired explosives sitting near the victim at hand. While he wasn't an expert with fancy set-ups like that, the bomb the black haired man had looked dangerous. When he ducked back down to avoid getting caught, Levy looked him head on with a sullen look.

"It'll blow up the entire room, and that's the best case scenario. The blast might even scatter to the outside and cause damage to the street and nearby civilians."

Natsu leaned more against the wall and ran his hands through his hair. "We could cover the bomb with something to dampen the blast, but under these circumstances..." he trailed off and clutched at his locks. "Damn it all! Of all days Lucy decided to take the day off to go shopping, why today when her ability could benefit us a whole ton!"

The bluenette let her back relax on the dark wood of the desk. "Maybe we should comply with his demands and just get the director here ASAP?" She shrugged her shoulders and bit her bottom lip. "He may let Anderson go and give us a chance to sneak in and apprehend him."

"Are you insane!" Natsu hissed with venom in his words. "He'll take the chance to set off the bomb and we'd all die on the spot!" The young man sighed and knocked his head on the wall. "Besides, the old man is out of town on a business meeting. There's no way this wacko will talk to anyone else."

Levy clicked her tongue in annoyance. Gajeel could tell that all her options were dwindling faster and faster by the minute. God only knew how long the bomber was willing to wait for someone in power to come waltzing into the office and here out his petty complaints about the agency's means of getting things done. Not to mention their last resort had just gone out the window and splat face down on the ground.

The cards were not in favor of the two detectives and their tag along.

After a moment of silence, Levy snapped her fingers with an almost disappointed look. "Ah well, I guess we have to do everything the hard way." She peered over the desk and eyes up the layout of the office. "First things first, we have to save Hans Christian above all other things. She is priority number one." When the shrimp ducked back down, she looked back to her two accomplices. "After the hostage is safe, Natsu or I will use our abilities in order to handle the bomber."

Natsu and Gajeel nodded. The former squatted down and faced off against Levy. "I guess that leaves us with one last thing to do. Who's going to go out and be the bait?"

Both the detectives smirked and cocked back their arms. Gajeel watched with an intense glare, waiting for the pair to show off their grade A skills to reduce the danger in the room. Now was the time for the man to really get a taste for how the agency got its infamously powerful reputation for quelling even the most impossible of situations. Maybe he could learn a thing or two about what it means to be a member of the ADA.

His expectations were broken when the two shook their fists twice at one another. On the third shake, Levy and Natsu both made their hands into the shape of scissors.

Gajeel shot daggers at the two hands repeating the former action, each time they both were tied up in a battle of rock-paper-scissors. The only difference each round was that they tied with different objects. In his head, Gajeel was completely dumbfounded.

Here was the most whispered about agency in the city of Magnolia. They were right in the middle of a hostage and bomber situation that could inflict a lot of collateral damage and cause the deaths of all the people in the office. Not to mention the hostage was their co-worker who more than likely was an ability user as well, therefore a valuable asset.

All of that was at stake, but here they were playing a hand game to decide who did what.

Finally, the two threw out their last round. Levy chuckled darkly under her breath and held up her hand. The palm was open to reveal that she had chosen paper. Natsu on the other hand had balled his fingers into a meaty fist. He growled a little before throwing one last glare at his all too happy comrade. Just to rub salt on his wound, the woman motioned for him to go forward and take his spot out on the floor.

"Well?" she sing-songed to beckon him forward with a shit-eating grin. "Don't die, flame brain!"

Natsu rolled his eyes and slapped her arm away. He got up from his squatting position and stomped out from his hiding place with a bitter expression on his face, angry and ready to face the current demelia. Levy peeked out from behind the reception desk with Gajeel hovering just above her to do the same. She snickered and pumped her fist close to her body. "That's for not buying me lunch last week, you cheapskate."

The bomber was twitching his thumb over the red button on his remote, a fist full of Anderson's hair in his opposite hand. He was barely paying any mind to the frustrated pinkette about to make a scene in front of his very eyes.

"Hey!" The bomber snapped his attention to Natsu who was getting closer and closer to him. "You better calm down right now before I call the military police here-"

"STAY BACK!" the raven haired man yelled. In his panic, he let go of his hostage's own hair and she fell back against the desk. "I'll blow you sky high!" He leapt off his perch and pointed the remote at Natsu with a quivering arm. "I swear I'll do it, you filthy ability user!"

The detective turned his expression to a more stern look. His green eyes watched the bomber and his spastic movements. Just to make sure that he wouldn't get blown up right away, Natsu lifted his arms up as if he was surrendering the control of the situation to the other man. In return, the bomber kept tabs on Natsu, as if he would use his ability just by sheer force of will.

"I know who you are."

Natsu stiffened up as the bomber walked up close, shoving his enraged face in his. "You're Lee Child, and your disgusting ability is _Never Go Back_. Your real name is Natsu Dragneel." He rubbed his silver cross and scrunched up his features. "Try anything funny or you can kiss this world goodbye!" For added effect, he promptly spat on Natsu's shoes. "And you can take your coworkers with you."

The pair still huddled behind the desk had seen the whole exchange go down. Levy had ditched her joking manner and opted for a more business look. She turned to Gajeel and made her signature check mark under her chin. "Looks like everything's falling into place," her eyebrows furrowed deeper as her mouth turned into a frown, "but the fact that this one knows about the agency and our abilities really concerns me."

Gajeel leaned against the desk and ran a hand threw his hair. "Maybe they use an ability, too. It's not impossible that other people outside the agency and government know about ability users and the nature of their powers.

Levy shook her head. "I can't say you're wrong, but the abilities and identities of ADA agents are confidential." She peeked back out to see the bomber talking with Natsu. From the looks of it, her partner had the man occupied for the time being. "We take great lengths to protect our real names, dates of birth," her lips softened into less of a contemplative glower but into a straight line, "and above all, our friends and family members."

Gajeel went cold at the emphasis on the last part. While he himself had no family to speak of, Levy was concerned mostly on the impact that the bomber could have on the possible lives outside of the agency. Her steady nature had been lost the moment that their enemy revealed that he knew more than the average angry client. The man could use that information and twist it as much as he wanted if he escaped the scene of the crime without a scratch. Yet again, the agency was at a disadvantage.

That much the dragon shifter could understand.

Levy traced her chin for a moment longer. Her face contorted to the size of a mouse now and again as she considered the options on her mental image of a table. It was when a sly smile crossed her face that was almost frightening, Gajeel had to shuffle back as quietly as he could.

The shrimp smirked as she looked her companion up and down with a careful eye. Her stare seemed to burn holes into him as he watched her cooking up some ludicrous idea in her twisted mind. For all he knew, she was plotting another suicide attempt that involved his own intervention.

"Good god, woman. What are you thinking now?"

Levy slapped her hands down on Gajeel's shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes with an intent to do something crazy. "I clearly can't go out there right now because that man more than likely already knows who I am." She poked the taller one in the chest. "But you're a newby not even registered in our system yet. He has no idea who you are, your real name, and best of all, your ability."

Her hands left his shoulders as she gave herself a small and silent applause. "I'd say that's a pretty convenient setup."

"Don't tell me." Gajeel groaned.

"How would you like to be our second distraction?"

* * *

"Hey dumbass!"

The bomber took his attention off of Natsu to see Gajeel storming in his general direction with a killer scowl on his face. He had his hands above his head to show that he had no weapons on him.

Gajeel pointed to the left side of the room and gave the angsty bomber a hard frown. "Listen, I work in the office just across the way. You're making a huge racket and causing a shitload of trouble for everyone else." He let his hands drop only to use them to gesture to himself. "I might have a few bones to pick with this place, but that's nothing to go killing yourself and innocent people over! Why throw your life away for some stupid revenge-?"

"SHUT UP!" the bomber yelled and pointed his remote at Gajeel. "You have no idea what they've done!" His flailed his arm in a feeble attempt to look menacing. "Stop spouting bullshit and get away from me! Better yet, go to hell!"

The dragon took a deep breath and tried to gain a more calm demeanor. "So what if I don't understand, you idiotic brat." He pointed to Natsu and laid a hand over his heart. "Do you know how many times Salamander here comes into my office and asks to borrow something? A shit ton of times." The pink haired detective gave him a confused look before he continued. "Do you know how many times he hasn't returned my stuff? A fuck ton of times."

The bomber mirrored Natsu's expression and let his guard down slightly. "Uh...that kinda sucks, man." His arm holding the remote fell to his side.

Gajeel on the inside was cheering himself on. He knew he had the bomber right where he wanted. Now all that was left was to give a sappy backstory and deliver the metaphorical killing in order to finish him off.

The red eyed man pretended to act completely drained and put a hand on his forehead. "I know that you think life sucks and you're trying to find someone to blame. I've been down that road a million times before." He took a single step forward, and to his surprise, the bomber remained where he was. "I got kicked out of the orphanage I was raised in before I was ready. I struggled to find a job and lost almost everything. In the end, all I got was a position at the reception desk."

Gajeel and the bomber met each other's eyes after the former's story was done. In his dark blue irises, the bomber had dropped his previous blood lust and now looked a bit more sympathetic. The danger and tension from before was melting away. From behind the reception desk, Levy was peeking out to watch the show Gajeel had put on. She couldn't help but smile at the hilarity of his current situation.

"Oh Gajeel, your portrayal of a loser is really convincing!"

Now, it was time to put the icing on the cake. Gajeel held out his hand to the bomber as if it was a lifeline. "Come one, how about you get rid of that bomb and start over." He looked over at the woman on the floor, the woman named Anderson and then back to his adversary. "It's not too late to try again."

The man with the silver cross paused to consider Gajeel's words. It was only a moment later that his face contorted, but this time he was more bewildered than spiteful. "Eh? No!" He hide the remote away and narrowed his eyes at Gajeel. "That's not why I'm doing this!"

Levy grit her teeth and jumped out from her hiding place. She launched her tiny body forward and reached her taller companion in no time flat. To the best of her ability, she jumped up and grabbed Gajeel by his collar, yanking him down and back from the bomber. He lost his balance and fell smack on his butt with Levy deftly moving away from his falling form.

Once Gajeel was safely away from the bomber, she raised her arm and it began to glow just as it had from the night before. Two rings of strange characters illuminated the bandages on her arm and circled her hand.

"Go for it Natsu! Get out of there Anderson!"

Natsu sprung into action before the bomber could register what was going on around him. Hans Christian Anderson rolled away from the desk she was leaned against and retreated to the far wall. Once the blue haired woman was out of harm's way, Natsu extended his arm out to the side and smirked.

" _Ability Activate: Never Go Back_."

The detective's arm began to glow a fiery red with similar characters making three rings around him. His chosen limb began to morph and break through his clothing. The skin became scales and his fingers changed into claws. The scales seemed to be engulfed in brilliant flames that started to spread heat throughout the room. The people against the wall began to escape the office and into the hallway as soon as they saw Natsu begin to change.

By the time everyone had cleared the way, Natsu's arm had been replaced with a familiar looking dragon's arm.

Gajeel saw the whole transformation from his spot on the floor. He could feel the warmth of the fire and taste the smoke about to suffocate his lungs into charred lumps. Even the light he created left him in a trance that he couldn't break from. What shocked him the most was the fact that he could shapeshift into a dragon just like himself.

Natsu willed his new arm to stop producing fire and left a leathery dragon's claw. He balled his new hand into a fist and stepped forward to met the bomber. In response, the bomber shuffled back and away from the detective.

"W-what that hell are you!"

Natsu shot his arm forward. The bomber stumbled back but the half dragon caught him by the shoulder and lifted him off the floor without so much as a single bat of his eye. His remote dropped from his hand and landed with a thud on the carpet below. The terrified delinquent squirmed like a worm, but failed to break from the intense grip that Natsu had on him. There was no escaping from the claws he had gotten himself trapped in. He had lost the battle he invoked.

The pink haired shape shifter on the other hand cocked back his free hand and smiled. "We're the Armed Detective Agency, and I'm a motherfucking dragon!"

Before the bomber could saw another word, Natsu delivered a swift punch into his stomach. The man recoiled from the force of the hit, coughed, then closed his eyes. His body went limp while his chest rose and fell a little slower than it had from before. Natsu dropped the bomber on the floor and backed away from his unconscious body.

Levy stepped forward and place her hand on his back. The characters on her hand circled Natsu's and clashed on his red scales. Her arm felt as if it was about to fall out of its socket from the pressure she was putting herself under to enable her ability. She had to shut her eyes to let herself concentrate on the task she was performing.

" _Ability: No Longer Human_."

Just like last night, Natsu's arm shrank until it was proper size again. His scales blurred away until all that was left was smooth, tan skin. The heat from before had faded away and left the remaining five people in the room with a normal temperature.

Once Natsu was back to his usual self, Levy retracted her arm and held it close to her chest in pain. She let out a sigh and shuffled unsteadily on her toes. Her partner saw her struggle to find balance and laid a steady hand on her shoulder. The shrimp shook her head when Natsu tried to help her out.

"Don't worry, I'm just not used to activating my ability without danger."

Natsu frowned. "I'm sorry." He looked down at the arm that had transformed in order to intimidate and apprehend the threatening man. "I should really learn how to control my transformations on my own."

Gajeel sighed and pulled himself to his feet. Levy heard him and turned to see how he was doing . When their eyes met, tired amber with bloody red, she smiled and gave him an encouraging thumbs up. "You did good this morning." She stepped in his direction, her balance returning to her.

Her companion shrugged and took a step towards her. "Could've been better if you hadn't thrown me to the ground. A warning next time would help ya' know." he growled. Natsu had the bomber slung over his shoulder, but chuckled at the two others. "Come on, the police will be here to take this loony to jail."

The other two nodded and started making their way towards the door to go wait outside. When Gajeel's foot came into contact with the ground, there was a loud beep. Natsu and Levy froze on the spot and swung their heads from side to side. The third of the group felt something under his shoe and looked down to see what he had stepped on.

Under his shoe was the bomber's remote, the button pressed in by the tip of his toes.

Gajeel looked up at the bomb still lying on the floor that had yet to be dealt with. On a black screen, a countdown from ten had just begun to wind down. As the numbers got lower and lower, the beeps seemed to get louder and louder.

Levy cursed under her breath and ran over to Anderson who was still tied up at the wrists. "Everyone, get out as quickly as you can!" she yelled while helping the other woman to her feet. Natsu nodded and rushed to get to the door with the bomber bobbing his head against his back. The two other females followed him close behind, the hostage pressed close to Dazai.

Gajeel remained rooted to his spot, staring at the bomb with wide eyes. Lee Child's words from before came back to him in waves of bad news. It seemed to echo over and over as if to taunt him.

" _It'll blow up the entire room, and that's the best case scenario. The blast might even scatter to the outside and cause damage to the street and nearby civilians."_

He took a few steps forward towards the bomb in a haze of disbelief.

"It's all my fault."

In his head, another thing was toyed around with as he made a split decision that would call for a great sacrifice. Something he should've done the moment his foot had hit the button.

" _We could cover the bomb with something to dampen the blast, but under these circumstances..."_

His mind had been made up the moment he had remembered those words.

Levy paused after realizing that Gajeel wasn't following the group anymore. She looked back and gasped at what she saw. He had laid himself over the top of the bomb and hugged it close to his midsection, acting as a blanket of sorts in order to leaven the blast.

She clenched her jaw as she felt fear well up within her. "You idiot! Get away from there!" she screamed, trying to get him to run away. Her shouting did nothing, though. Gajeel remained as a way to dampen the blast. Levy knew deep down with his physical build, there wouldn't be external damage to the streets below, let alone to the hallway if they were lucky enough.

But the heavy price would be the man's life.

 _Stop crying! Crying is for people who deserve to be sad!_

Gajeel could hear someone yelling for him to get up and escape. He couldn't pick out the voice due to the blood hammering in his head. His heart was racing at the truth that what he was doing would be the last thing he'd ever do. The seconds seemed to tick slower as all that had happened to lead up to now played out like a movie in his head.

 _You should just go die in a ditch somewhere!_

The meeting of the ADA, his first real meal in years, the warehouse, the clothes, the garbage can, even the bomber's threats replayed on and on. What really stuck out was the amount of blue he saw, belonging to the most bizarre person he had ever met in his twenty two years of life. Everything from the way she held out her hand to the way she talked about death was a puzzle he knew would never get solved. His whole future was disappearing because he wanted to protect the puzzle and her comrades from the blast, and someone he had barely known for two days even.

 _You'll never be useful for as long as you live!_

Like the skin Levy kept covered up in heavy clothes and bandages, he would never live to see the light these people had shed on him ever again. Gajeel closed his eyes and accepted his inevitable fate.

"Thanks for everything, shrimp. For letting me die useful..."

The final beep was like the cathedral bells that Gajeel woke to. It bounced around in his ears as he tensed up for the bomb to rip his gut to shreds. He was ready for the heat and fire that would engulf him instead of the office and people. Gajeel was ready to face up to all of the mistakes he had made over the years.

Instead, he was met with the mundane hum of an AC unit cooling the room down. There was a slight breeze from the open window behind the desk he was next to. The bomb under him still felt in tact, no sign of being detonated.

Gajeel opened his eyes to see Levy leaning over him with another glowing smile. Her hair was haloed in afternoon light that seemed to soften her appearance. Beside her, Natsu and the bomber looked at him with worried expressions. Even Anderson was on her feet, ungaged and her hands clasped together as if she was praying for Gajeel's safety. All four looked down at him as if they were expecting something.

Once he was confirmed safe, Levy crouched down and patted Gajeel on the shoulder. "Not bad, newby! I knew there was sympathy in that sarcastic shell of yours!"

Gajeel frowned and uncovered himself from the bomb. The countdown had hit zero, but there was no blast to it up. Everyone, including himself, were safe and sound. He looked up at Levy as she stood to her feet and extended a hand out to him. He gladly took it and heaved himself upward to tower over the rest of the group.

"Gray-sama!"

The bomber, Gray, was then tackled by Anderson. Her face was smooshed into his chest and her arms wrapped around him as tightly as they would allow.

"Did Natsu punch you too hard? Do you need Juvia to punish him for hurting you, Gray-sama?" she fretted while embracing the man named Gray. He looked slightly annoyed by her display of affection, but he didn't push her away either. "I'm just fine. I'll get back at flame brain later."

Anderson pulled away with a small pout. "Juvia doesn't like it when you lie, Gray-sama. Please don't lie to Juvia again!" she cried, starting to tear up. Gray looked panicked and began to rub the woman's head. "I said I'm fine, you should worry about yourself. I wasn't too harsh on you, was I?"

Anderson perked up right away and beamed the world at him. She shook her head before answering him back. "Juvia is just fine, too." She tugged at the hem of her dress and began to blush a deep red. "Juvia is okay if you're rough with her."

Gray copied her embarrassed look when Levy and Natsu snickered at the two. Despite that, he ignored them and turned to Gajeel, his hand laced together with Anderson. "My name is Gray Fullbuster. My alias is Junichirou Tanizaki." He stuck out his other hand. "Sorry about all the hysterics, but we wanted to test you out. There really wasn't any danger to begin with."

"No problem, man." Gajeel took the greeting and the two shook hands. The woman at Gray's side extended her own greeting out to him. "Juvia is my name. Juvia's alias is Hans Christian Anderson."

After their introductions, Levy stood forward and smiled at the group. She clapped her hands together. "Good job everyone, that was a good little warm up for today." She turned to Gray and Juvia and laid a hand on their shoulders. "I liked the performance you two gave. It was really convincing." She eyed Gray with a semi-stern look. "But Gray, I think you could've toned down the yelling a little. You were spitting all over the place."

The man rolled his eyes and waved her off. "At least I don't have to use a stepping stool when I need to reach a file in the reference room."

Levy gave him a fake grin before tugging him down to eye level by his collar. "Make fun of my height one more time at that's a month's worth of pay out the window. Poor Juvia will have to pay the rent all on her lonesome." Gray gulped heavily before she continued. "And we all know what happens when Juvia is put under lots of pressure. Lucy and her go shopping for hours and hours, and guess who's gonna be their little doll to try out different eye shadows?"

Levy let go of a now shaking Gray who took a few steps back. The shrimp smirked and turned to Natsu as well. "Same goes for you Natsu! I know you're the one stealing my stash of grape soda. Lucy needs a guinea pig for a new color called 'Passion In The Air'. Its supposed to be very glittery for clubbing and such." She put her hands across her chest and glared at the salmon haired man. "I also heard it stays on for up to a week if you don't wipe it off with make-up wipes. Would you like to give it a try?"

Natsu snapped to attention as sweat formed on his brow. "No thanks! I have plans this weekend with Wendy and every weekend for the next month!" he almost shouted. Levy stood victorious before turning to the final person, Gajeel.

She dropped her killing grins and opted for a softer one. "You did a good job handling the situation. You were willing to risk your life to save people you've barely met." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a simple colored wallet. "Please open up your hand."

Gajeel nodded and opened up his palm. Levy pressed the wallet into it and let her hands rest in her pockets. Gajeel opened it up to find a card with his name and information about himself on the card. A seal with a whimsical creature could be seen off to the side. "You'll need that when you assist on jobs. It has a temporary ID until we get a proper picture of you as well as your height and weight."

The once homeless man had no words to say. His life had finally started going in what he knew was the right direction. Everything seemed to be falling into place.

Gajeel smirked and nodded. "Sounds good." He looked over the card one last time and found something strange written in two of the information sections. One was the name of his ability while the other was another person's name. He held up the wallet to show to Levy.

"Hey, who's Atsushi Nakajima?"

Levy took a moment to consider the question before snapping her fingers.

"The director told me to be your supervisor for your test. He also gave me the right to chose your alias." She pointed to him and gave him the biggest smile he had seen yet. "That's your codename: Atsushi Nakajima, our Iron Dragon of the ADA!"

 _ ***"Das macht nichts, meinen Freund!" translates loosely to "It's nothing, my male friend!"**_

 **Welcome to Bios! This is the after segment where you can learn about the ability users of Trash Candy. Enjoy!**

 **Name:** Gajeel Redfox (Codename: Atsushi Nakajima)

 **Height:** 6'7

 **Age:** 22

 **Ability:** Beast Under the Moonlight

Gajeel was kicked out of the orphanage he was raised in at sixteen years old. For four years, he lived out on the street and fended for himself, leaving him with a cynical persona. After meeting Levy of the ADA, he finds out he is an ability user and is invited a position in the Armed Detective Agency.

While he may seem cold and sarcastic to most, he has a soft side for most animals. He one day wants to own a cat and become successful at something before he dies. His cooking is the stuff of legend and surpasses that of great chiefs who have been perfecting their craft for decades. He also has a penchant for giving people he works with nicknames instead of using their real names/ codenames.

His ability grants him the power to transform himself into a dragon. As the iron dragon, he has a high resistance to pain and is highly defensive. His biggest flaw is his immense size that drags down his speed. He also has trouble fighting in confined areas, like the warehouse from chapter one. He has no control over when he transforms and needs Levy to turn him back to normal.

 **Likes:** Cats, Building things with iron, Teasing Levy and getting her mad

 **Dislikes:** Unjust killing, Talking about his feelings, Dogs

 **Name:** Levy McGarden (Codename: Osamu Dazai)

 **Height:** 5'0

 **Age:** 20

 **Ability:** No Longer Human

Not much is known about Levy's past before she joined the ADA. There is a contest amongst her co-workers on who can guess her past occupation. Only the director knows about her and chose not to collect the bid everyone set, and her best friend Lucy knows some of the details but doesn't pry too much into it.

Even though Levy is suicidal and tends to go overboard with some of her plans, she is actually very kind. She loves reading and learning new languages while slacking off on her paperwork. She also loves music and plays different instruments in her spare time. Lucy is the only one who's heard her sing and play though. One day, Levy hopes to travel to her place of birth in Germany and brush up and what's going on.

Her ability allows her to cancel out other abilities by touching them. She can only perform this when her life is in danger, but pushes herself to the point of exhaustion in order to call her ability at will. Her weight and height also hinder her muscles and leaves her fairly fragile when dealing with stronger opponents. She usually just depends on her speed, knowledge of the human body, and intel on abilities in order to outsmart and beat her opponents.

 **Likes:** Books and words, Plotting her suicide, Lucy's companionship

 **Dislikes:** Injustice, Being alone, Gajeel's constant teasing about her height

 **Name:** Lucy Heartfilia (Codename: Doppo Kunikida)

 **Height:** 5'7

 **Age:** 23

 **Ability:** Celestial Poet

Lucy is an avid writer who joined the ADA in the middle of her high school years. She formed a tight bond with Levy who became her test subject for her books and short stories she publishes under her real name. One of her most famous works stars a suicidal maniac that is based off of her best friend. She also took a liking to Natsu Dragneel, a dragon shifter with a bouncy personality. Together, the two paired up and formed a three person with Gray as the third party.

While her co-workers see her as a go getter, she deals with depression and relationship anxiety from her past. She almost never approached anyone unless it's for a job request or someone she trusts deeply when she first started out at the ADA. Natsu is the first person in her life who she opened up completely to and confides in for comfort. Her newest book is based off of her life experiences and is destined to be another best seller in Fiore.

Her ability grants her the power to summon spirits through poetry she writes. She primarily summons the constellations that she describes in her writing on many occasions. Each one has a unique personality and exist in their own separate reality. Each one has a unique and personal bond with Lucy as a close friend. Her biggest weakness is when she loses the paper she summons her spirits from. Lucy has to guard the paper during the duration of the battle from getting wet or getting torn.

 **Likes:** Her friends and boyfriend, Writing, Her poetry spirits

 **Dislikes:** Hate, Depression, Her past

 **Name:** Natsu Dragneel (Codename: Lee Child)

 **Height:** 6'0

 **Age:** 24

 **Ability:** Never Go Back

Natsu had been apart of the ADA since he was ten years old. His father and mother were distinguished detectives before they were killed in the line of duty. For a while, he shuts out everyone out of grief and refuses to open up to anyone other than the ADA director. Years later, he meets Lucy and they form a fast friendship that turns into an intimate relationship. His world takes a complete one eighty and learn to be human again.

Many people see him as irresponsible, but he is so much more. He takes care of his younger sister, Wendy who is also an ability user. He reads to her every night and takes her to school every morning. Wendy loves Lucy and treats her like the sister she never had. Natsu also is a proud owner of two cats named Happy and Charle.

Natsu's ability allows him to turn into a dragon. This ability was inherited from his father and is also passed down to Wendy. He has a good offense and can move fairly quick compared to other shifters. Like Levy mentioned, he is a glass cannon who can get knocked out from tactfully planned attacks. When he is too focused and partially transformed, he can't revert back to his original state. This same principal applies to all dragon shifters. Levy uses her ability to cancel out his.

 **Likes:** His sister and girlfriend, Spicy food, Dragons

 **Dislikes:** Cold weather, People who hurt his family and friends, Gray Fullbuster

 **Name:** Gray Fullbuster (Junichirou Tanizaki)

 **Height:** 6'1

 **Age:** 24

 **Ability:** Light Snow

Gray joined the ADA after finishing college at an extremely young age of sixteen. He has a very cold personality and doesn't form many relationships with other people. He does have a good relationship with Lucy because of one of poems she wrote for him when he was feeling down in the dumps. Gray later joined forces with Natsu and Lucy to form a small, elite team that has yet to not solve a single case. When not on a team with those two, he takes cases with Juvia.

When Gray was nineteen, Juvia Lockser came to the ADA in order to assist in a murder case that turned out to be her test of admittance. The two were paired up and eventually became good friends with a dynamic relationship. At first Gray thought her clingy tendencies were annoying, but grew to like her company over time. The two now share their own apartment and live together.

Gray's ability allows him to create illusions from the ice he makes. If he focuses hard enough, he can make the illusions come to life to attack his enemies. He can perform unison attacks with Juvia's ability, _Poor Unfortunate Souls_. His biggest weakness is when he fights in a heated area.

 **Likes:** The cold, Making drinks after work, Hanging around with Juvia

 **Dislikes:** His brother Lyon, Natsu's attitude, People who hurt/ want to hurt Juvia

 **Name:** Juvia Lockser (Codename: Hans Christian Anderson)

 **Height:** 5'8

 **Age:** 23

 **Ability:** Poor Unfortunate Souls

Juvia is an ex-convict with a record of theft and cooperating with the now disbanded Phantom Lord mafia. After Natsu, Lucy, and Gray had taken said mafia into custody, Juvia was withheld from trial by governmental court and left to the ADA. The director saw her potential and welcomed her into the ranks after passing her test with flying became her official supervisor while she got acquainted with the agency. They got along well and developed a deep connection with one another, much to Gray's dislike at the beginning.

Juvia is the best swimmer at the ADA and loves water to no end. She has, on more than one occasion, been spotted at the beach after dark in order to unwind. After a physical conducted by the ADA's doctor, she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Despite that, she always gives everything she does one hundred percent of her attention. Juvia also has a deep infatuation for Gray and developed stalkerish tendencies. She calmed down after her first year at the agency and Gray to warmed up to her affections.

Juvia's ability grants her the power to manipulate water or objects containing water that she is touching. If Juvia is in a sour mood and touching a large water source, she can cause major flooding and rain storms. Her ability also lets her merge with water and allow fast travel through rivers, sewers, and pipes. She is weak to fire attacks and often finds herself backed into a corner when fighting fire ability users.

 **Likes:** Swimming after dark, Romance and love, "Gray-sama!"

 **Dislikes:** Her low days, Hurting anyone, Her former boss

 **I recently watched the ending theme of Bungou Stray Dogs and noticed all the cute, potential Gajevy moments there are. I can just imagine Gajeel standing all alone when all of a sudden Levy's hand stretches up and rubs his head as if to calm him down. Gah, can't contain the feels!**

 **See you next time!**


	3. Enter: The Port Mafia

**Hello!**

 **Sorry the updates have been slower than snails, but things have been busy lately. I will try to update as much as I can. My goal is a monthly update, giving myself enough time to write and go through it a couple of times.**

 **Good news though, I got a new job! Yay! I'm doing well for myself and I can't wait to earn my next paycheck!**

 **If you have any suggestions of things you want to see in the story, don't be afraid to PM me. I'm always open to new ideas and suggestions to improve the overall quality of my writing.**

 **I would also like to thank Tigertyler7 for giving some suggestions about the Strauss siblings. You'll see their bios at the end of the chapter.**

 **Now, on to the story!**

Gajeel ran his thumb over his newly laminated card, his picture and information protected in a plastic seal. The alias he was given was still foreign to him, but still something to be proud of and hold to a high standard.

He still couldn't believe that he, in one week, learned about the secret world of ability users, got roped into the infamous Armed Detective Agency only to be offered a position amongst their ranks. Not to mention the fact that his interview consisted of apprehending a bomber and risk his life to save people he barely knew for two whole days. Part of him was still frustrated that it was all fake and he was in no danger, but he wasn't going to complain with a source of income now under his belt.

Life was finally going Gajeel's way; it gave him a sense of importance.

* * *

 _My name is Levy, but most people of your status call me Dazai Osamu._

 _You have embarked on a dangerous journey indeed, my new friend! I heard that the newbie had spilled some private information to you the other day. While I do know that you have the right to plead the fifth, please tell me that isn't true._

 _Oh... I see that's the case. Well, since I have your attention, listen to me very closely._

 _A week has passed since Gajeel received his test of courage and selflessness. If you ask me, he still has to work on easing bombers with nothing to lose off the trigger. Gray was being very lenient, but the 'real deals' won't be as easy to sway._

 _Back on topic, you will now be swept back into our world of intrigue and mystery. You'll see a lot of me in the future and onward. By the way, I think Lucy will be introducing herself next time._

 _I pray for your soon-to-be-dying-brain cells when Natsu takes a turn. I'm truly sorry._

 _If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to the story. Please sit back, relax, and just have a good time!_

* * *

Gajeel felt a tiny fist knock on his head, calling his thoughts back to the present. "Are you gonna stare at yourself all day, or are you going to finish your coffee?" He glanced over and angled his head downward in order to meet a pair of twinkling, amber eyes that were framed by sky blue hair. Propped up by a bandaged palm and a knowing smirk on her face was Dazai Osamu **-** or known privately **-** as Levy McGarden.

Levy nudged a mug with the aforementioned black liquid bouncing off the sides in tiny ripples. "You're going to need the extra boost for the day ahead." Her constant snicker splayed on her lips like a second layer of skin, natural and by some grand design. "Besides, you're gonna be working with the ice man, and he's the adult copy of a moody teenager who listens to 'My Immortal' on repeat." She took a delicate out sip of her drink. "At least on a good day."

From across the booth they were sitting in, Gray looked up with his droopy expression that quickly flipped to annoyance. "Like you're any better, bandage waster. You and your suicidal tendencies cause more trouble than your skills are worth." He huffed and clutched his to-go cup of iced coffee. "Did you suddenly forget the time I had to climb to the top of a crane to stop you from jumping off it? You scared the construction workers to death!"

The blunette rolled her eyes and leaned on the table top. "You know it's true. The only person you actually tolerate is Juvia." Levy chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "You're one lucky guy, I'll give you that." She flourished her hand and seemed to glow from the morning light that streamed in from their window. "If I had someone as good as Juvia, I'd commit a glorious double suicide with them on the spot!"

Gajeel grumbled at his superior's antics. One week of sharing paperwork duties still hadn't given him enough time to adjust to the strange atmosphere of the office.

The dragon took a gulp and relaxed as the bitter drink began to kickstart his senses. "Ya' got a sick and twisted idea of romance, shrimp. No _sane_ man or woman would ever want to throw their life away on the spot like that."

Levy glared at him and punched him in the arm with her free fist. "It's a big world, dragon man! At least one person is out there right now thinking the exact same thing I am!" Gajeel fanned her away as if she was a child trying to get their parent to yield. "Yeah, and 'yer a fairy that has her wings tucked up in that ridiculous coat of yours."

The senior detective just scoffed and flipped the page of a book sitting in front of her. "You never know. Like I said, It's a big world out there. A fairy could walk right through that door without any of us knowing. She'd buy her drink and leave with her tail tucked away." Her thumb gently stroked the yellowing paper. "That's one theory anyway. She could also be hiding in that ridiculous rat nest you call hair."

It was Gajeel's turn to scoff as he turned to the savage woman, promptly ignoring him by returning to her book. "And for _your_ information, I like my hair! It's badass!" Levy rolled her eyes before returning to where she had left off on the page. "Nope, just bad in general."

Gajeel glared at the woman with the raw power of one thousand suns. Levy returned his nasty look with her own frustrated one. As if on cue, they broke into a heated arguement.

"At least my hair isn't blue! Who dyes their hair sky blue?"

Levy slammed her book shut and shoved her face right into his. "I was _born_ with blue hair, you microsophalicalopate! And why do you think having red colored contacts is a good idea, huh?"

"I was born with this eye color, unlike your stupid hair! There's no way you were born with that! No one is!"

"Child was born pink hair, Anderson was born with blue hair, why can't _I_ be born with blue hair?"

"That's all bullshit! None of you were born that way! That's not how genetics works!"

"How would you know how genetics works? As I recall, you didn't even _go_ to school!"

"That's a low blow! I was an orphan!"

"No excuses!"

Gray watched on with a bored expression, having seen the exchange before in the cheesy romance stories that Lucy often wrote during her spare time instead of finishing paperwork. While the polar opposites-turn-friends-turn-lovers was long overdone to the point of vomiting, he still proofread them before she posted the finished product on her blog.

A slim set of fingers found themselves entwined with Gray's under the table. He looked over only to be enraptured in a sea of blue-green eyes that caught him off guard. A coy smile played upon the pale face that said eyes belonged to.

"I wonder if they realize they are causing a ruckus." Juvia murmured in her soft voice that melted Gray down to a puddle, but there's no way he'd tell anyone other than her. He threw a free arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer to his side. "No, but give it time and they might simmer down." When she had an arm slung across his waist, she scooted in so he could use her head to rest his own. The extra weight calmed Juvia's nerves for the mission they would be on that day. His steady breathing was tinged with an unnatural chill, a side effect from his ability. "For now, let's enjoy the show."

Juvia felt her cheeks warm up despite her boyfriend's below average temperature. Just another thing that she couldn't get enough of and missed dearly when they had to break apart. With a lazy morning voice, she muttered "It is quite amusing."

Gray chuckled in a deep tone. The woman nuzzled into his side could feel it with her head tucked perfectly against his throat. She loved his laugh as well, even if it was weaker than a mouse's squeak. Every little noise he made was music to her ears. Juvia giggled into her fist before lifting her own cup of sweet tea to her lips. The steam carried the drink's pleasant scent through the air and onto her tongue.

Juvia enjoyed that scent of earthy, black tea with a spoonful of sugar.

A pair of heels made low and loud clicks across the tiled floor. White hair pulled up in a wavy ponytail swished as the owner of the heels stopped abruptly at the side of the table. The scene before her caused her to let out a light giggle.

"Well isn't this the sight to see! Dazai, when did you get a boyfriend?" A perky voice called, the four being jolted from their own worlds. Gajeel's jaw dropped at the sight of a platinum haired beauty in a pink sweater dress that clung to her curvy figure. Over the fine outfit was a white apron stained with flour, some of the powder on the woman's fair skinned face. She glowed with mischief from the way her hip was popped out and her devilish grin tinged with a light crimson lipstick. In her left hand, she casually held a coffee pot that gleamed in the cafe's lax lighting.

Levy leaned over the table in a frustrated huff. "He's not my boyfriend, Mira." She slipped back into her seat and extended her arm with her mug in her fingers. "Besides, he said my hair wasn't naturally blue, _and_ he interrupted my drowning." Mira giggled and refilled Levy's cup. Her voice was high pitched, but not enough to be considered annoying to the ear. "Not again, don't tell me this poor man had to fish you out of the river?"

"He didn't _have_ to." Levy retracted her mug as soon as Mira finished pouring. "Thanks, and tell Elf that he makes a killer coffee."

"COFFEE IS MANLY!" came a shout from behind the counter just across the aisle from the group's table. Gajeel flinched at the rumbling voice that caused him to jump in his seat, tearing his eyes away from their waitress in an attempt to find the source of the noise.

Mira smiled and turned around. "Levy really likes your coffee, little bro!"

"Tell her I said that I imported it from Hargeon just last week! The stuff from across the sea!"

Levy lit up like a firework at the mention of the shipment. "The stuff I suggested from the Alvarez Islands? I knew it tasted familiar! You're the best, Elf!"

"Just being a man!" From a ticket window that led to the kitchen, a large hand waved at the tiny woman. As soon as it had come, it disappeared to go back to whatever task it was previously attending to. Levy saw it and sat back down, gulping down her fresh cup with a genuine smile gracing her features. She let out a satisfied sigh and relaxed into the plush booth. "If there's one thing I love more than suicide and books, it's coffee from the Alvarez Islands. I went there once for a job and got hooked on the stuff while I was there."

Gajeel quirked an eyebrow at the exchange with a quizzical look before turning to Levy for answers. Instead, Mira leaned closer to refill his own mug. "Don't bother asking her questions when she gets into drinking her joe. She'll just bash you over the head and put you in a coma for a few days. I've seen it happen."

Taking her advice, Gajeel resigned himself to watching the coffee stream down and fill his cup. Once it was full, he thanked Mira and enjoyed his drink, relishing in the bitter taste.

Mira set her coffee pot on the counter before returning to the table. "I've seen you come in with Levy a few times this past week. Are you the new guy I heard can transform into a dragon?"

Gajeel almost choked on his coffee. He coughed before raising his head to Juvia and Gray for answers. They could see his confusion and Gray set to explaining how Mira knew about his ability while not being a hostile towards the agency.

"Mira and her brother, Elfman are ability users who help out from time to time around the agency. They both prefer to live normal lives though, so they run this cafe together. Sometimes, they'll also use this place as a means of gathering information and pass it along to the agency for our benefit." Gray explained.

Mira nodded and rested her hands on her hips. "Our youngest sister, Lisanna was here a couple of days ago. Lisanna has an ability too, she can turn into animals that she has seen and heard before. She was visiting from college up at Rosetown University, but left yesterday to put her nose back at the grindstone." She gave a slightly sad grin. "We really miss her, it's just not the same without her here. How can we call ourselves the Strauss trio without the third member?"

Gajeel felt a pang of sympathy. While he never had siblings of his own, he could understand that watching someone you've known your whole life leave was hard. He felt the same about his father who died when he was at a young age. He didn't remember much, but he could recall that something always felt out of sorts. There was always something missing that no amount of time could fix.

Her face didn't remain downcast for long. Mira looked up and gave a proud smile before she continued. "But one day, she's gonna come back for good and open a pet hospital. There isn't one that's convenient to this part of the city yet, so she should get some good revenue once she sets up shop." She clenched her fist as if she was cheering her sister on from far away. "Just you wait!"

The previous moping was gone and replaced with Levy's cell phone going off wildly. Mira cocked her head while the couple across from Gajeel had raised their own phones to attention at the odd ringtone.

" _D-DOUBLE SUICIDE! CAN'T DO IT ALONE!"_

Levy put her mug down and fished her phone out of her vest. She flicked open the device and pushed her wild hair away in order for her to take the call.

"This is the Armed Detective Agency First Responder's Unit, Osamu Dazai speaking." she said with an unreadable expression. The sound of a rushed voice on the other side of the line caused her face to press into a frown. "Yes… uh-huh… alright, we'll be there right away."

Levy ended the call and pocketed her phone. She adjusted the collar of her shirt before standing up in the booth. "Tanizaki, you're with me!" she demanded before she stepped up on the table top with her arms extended for balance. She did her best to avoid kicking over the coffee and tea cups. "There's been a Port Mafia head sighted down by the pier! If we hurry, we can catch him!"

Within the span of a second, Levy leapt off the table. In the process she almost knocked Mira over, and rushed to the door. On her way, she snagged her trenchcoat off the rack right next to the front door while yelling back to the table. "Anderson, Nakajima's all yours! Take care of him and we'll meet you at the site in an hour or so!"

Gray sighed and gave Juvia a peck on the cheek. "I'll see ya later. I found your favorite movie and I'm making homemade popcorn for tonight."

The woman grinned sheepishly at the show of affection and promise of a date night. Gajeel had to hold back a chuckle as the man dashed after the blue blur who had left the cafe in a whirlwind of light brown and bandages. "Slow down, bandage waster! I can't duck under legs like you can!"

The remaining trio stayed at the table, two woman shaking their heads in disapproval and one confused dragon shifter. The only noise that clung to the air was the bell still chiming over the door, slowly starting to cease its ringing.

Juvia was the first to speak up, setting her empty mug on the table. "I guess you and I will be conducting the investigation for now." She turned to Mira and pulled out a brown, leather wallet. It was obviously a gift, engraved with the letters "HCA" in one of the corners. Gajeel wondered for a moment if it was from Gray.

She handed Mira a twenty jewel bill which the server received gladly. "Good luck, and if you need anything, I'm one call away!"

Juvia nodded and stood up from the booth. Gajeel followed suit and left the cafe with his eyes on the once shy detective with the blue eyes. No longer was she reserved to her boyfriend's side, watching with a blissful expression. Gone was her hesitation and nervous demeanor that caused her to clam up to everyone but the man named Tanizaki.

There was fire where she stepped, fire the color of water.

* * *

Gajeel walked two paces behind Juvia through the thick city crowd. The streets were awake with the calls of street vendors, clicking of business shoes on the sidewalk, and car horns drowning out what Gajeel had left of his hearing. He always had above average auditory senses, and he was glad that he had it. Natsu had explained that it was a part of his ability, his dragon form bleeding into his mundane appearance.

As helpful as that could be some of the time, he found that the morning rush had left him bleeding from his ears.

He never liked the crowds anyway. Everyone was in a hurry most of the time and didn't care to have some common decency to their fellow men. Sometimes, a poor schmuck would get a face full of someone's morning shot of espresso and second degree burns down the front of their shirt. If you fell down, you could bet your life savings that you're going to get trampled on.

This traffic did not faze Juvia Lockser in the slightest.

Juvia strode along the sidewalk as if she owned the very road they walked along. She moved with the flow of the people in order to navigate towards their destination. If someone bumped her, that person stumbled against her strong composure that was as solid as a rock. One unlucky fool had turned to scold her for not apologizing to him, but instead was met with a cold glare that said "You wanna die, buddy?"

It honestly terrified Gajeel, and he was rarely terrified of anyone.

Juvia made a sudden turn off the main street, weaving around the back alley's until they reached a less crowded area of the city that was roped off by police tape. A row of old office buildings stretched on one end of the street, clearly abandoned and subject to being torn down in the foreseeable future. On the other side was an equally empty pier that Gajeel had not visited before in all his years in the city.

It was a quiet part of the city, a pleasant change in pace to what he and Juvia had walked out of. Speaking of the woman, she had patted out the wrinkles from being hustled along with the crowd and sweeping her gaze over the premises. "Looks clear, we should get to work just incase anyone decides to drop in."

She turned around and rolled up the sleeves of her light, black jacket. "Ju- I will now explain what we're doing." Once her sleeves were to her liking, she pulled a notepad from the pocket of her black skirt that swayed just past her knees. Her ghostly pale skin was hidden under black hosiery, keeping her already modest aura in check.

"An ability user was spotted here last night. They were using what we believe is a tactical class ability that is still unidentified. Said ability user has been spotted in this area on multiple occasions by multiple sources." She flicked open her notepad and read over her handwriting carefully. "A man approached us yesterday on behalf of his employer. The employer wishes to buy this property and develop it into a strip mall."

Gajeel set a hand on his hip and huffed out "So what does that have to do with us?"

Juvia closed her notepad and put it back in her pocket. "We are going to track down this ability user and make sure they are registered to use an ability in public, or at least find clues to their whereabouts. After that, we have to let them know that they aren't welcome on the property or allowed to use their ability so carefreely in public-"

"And I would like it done today." a voice cut in.

Juvia and Gajeel turned around. Standing behind them was a ginger haired man. He wore a black suit that showed up a muscular frame. Despite the muscles, he only stood a bit shorter than Juvia herself.

The man stepped forward with his hand outstretched. "My name Jonathan Clark, but you may call me Jet for short. Everyone does."

Gajeel drew his hand into a fist at his side. He never shook hands with someone that came at him from behind. In Gajeel's mind, you can tell a lot about a man the way he approaches others on the street. Surprising the pair from behind, without a proper warning, was enough for the dragon shifter to have a mistrust of the newcomer named Jet.

Juvia on the other hand stepped up and took his offer. She would have to be the one to do all the business talk today. "My name is Hans Christian Andersen." When their hands broke away, she motioned to Gajeel. "This is my partner, Atsushi Nakajima. He just joined the ADA a little over a week ago and is my shadow for the day." The woman gave her 'partner' a hard look. "I would prefer that you come to me for any questions regarding the investigation. Nakajima is a fighting class ability user and more of a bodyguard than a investigator.."

Jet smirked and straightened up, aware that the red eyed man wasn't shaking his hand anytime soon. "Thank you, Miss Anderson. I'll go to you if I have any questions."

The blunette nodded and gave the ginger her full attention. "If I'm correct, you were sent the proper forms to accompany us in the investigation today?" Jet smiled and opened his arms as if to plead guilty to a crime he proudly committed. "Yes, I have also read over the contract regarding accompanying you and agree to all the terms and rules you've set." He reached for his tie to make sure it was neatly tucked under the folds of his blazer. "I hope you can answer all my questions I may have during our time together."

The senior detective nodded and gave the redhead a stern look. "There is only one rule I would like you to follow when asking questions. You may not ask us to disclose our abilities or use our abilities for your benefit. To do so would violate the Fiorian Special Ability privacy act and we can charge you with a crime against our human rights. That also means you are not allowed to tell others of our abilities if we are forced to use them. What happens here, stays here."

She steeled her gaze and seemed to tower over Jet's own ego. "Do I make myself clear?" He grinned and gave her a tiny bow. "Crystal, Miss Anderson."

Juvia turned on her heel and beckoned Gajeel to her side. Jet followed the duo while looking around idilly, no sense of alertness about him. While the detectives were sweeping all over the perimeter for a sign of an ability user, their third wheel just kicked at stones and whistled a familiar tune. It must've been a children's lullaby by the sweeping melody and soft sound.

After close to an hour of combing the pier, the trio came up with nothing but loose rocks. The blue eyed woman motioned her mammoth of a companion closer. He leaned down till her breath was on the top of his ear.

"Does Ats- do you sense anything wrong with our guest?" She glanced back at him while he was immersed in his own thoughts instead of helping the detectives. "I can't help but feel like something is wrong."

Gajeel spared Jet a glance. He still was frolacking about the broken road, whistling his childish tune as he went along his merry way. Not a care in the world was what he got from the ginger haired fellow. At least that seemed to be par for the course judging by his fancy get up.

While the man himself seemed fine, it was the environment that didn't sit right in his stomach.

Usually, there would be gulls over the sea. It was getting colder and snow was due to happen any day now. The city animals, including the seagulls were eating like mad men before the snow would plunge the city into a frozen hell. Gajeel knew better than to pass up the time to fatten up before food was scarce and only available in trash bins. Even beasts had some class in terms of getting a meal.

Something or someone must've scared them away before they got there. The only other person who was authorized to be on the property was right behind Gajeel and Juvia.

He leaned back and gave a nod in the direction of an alleyway between two buildings. Juvia could tell what he meant and stopped her steady gait. Jet noticed the change and waited for further instruction or an explanation to why they had stopped before they made any conclusions into their general search of the grounds. "What's up? Why'd we stop?"

Juvia pointed to the alley that Gajeel had nodded to. "We're going to check between the buildings for a way inside them. He suspects that our culprit might have left clues inside. We have to ask you to stay here until we know it's safe."

Jet grinned and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I understand. Please hurry back, I might get lonely."

The detectives made their way towards the buildings without delay. Gajeel could feel the business man's eyes burning into the back of his shirt despite the distance growing between them. He was glad when he found himself enveloped in the darkness of the alley, a familiar setting that brought a semblance of comfort. It was something he was used to by now.

Juvia and him found themselves taking a left turn down another path to avoid hitting a wall straight ahead. The two walked a few more paces before stopping in the middle of the path.

The woman turned to Gajeel with a worried expression. "All these buildings are locked, he'll figure out soon that we are just stalling for time. I think we've been fooled into coming here." She rubbed her forehead and scrunched up her nose. "But for what reason would call for such actions? That's the question."

Gajeel shrugged. "Maybe he's trying to keep us away from the ADA." Juvia shook her head and placed her hands on her hips. "No, I have a feeling that's not what he wants. The building is guarded at all times by one fighter class ability user and one tactical class user. Lee Child is handling that today alongside Doppo Kunikida." She rubbed her forehead out of total frustration. "And Juv- I just can't find a reason."

Her companion took a look around the alleyway as Juvia tried her best to come up with an answer to the mysterious happenings. He noticed that the walls weren't too far apart. In fact, they were about the length of a car. Mobility would be difficult if they encountered someone in a fight. Not to mention there was a dead end not too far from where the two were standing. If someone walked in and charged them, Gajeel and Juvia would be at a disadvantage with their backs against a wall.

That's when it hit the shapeshifter all at once of their situation.

Gajeel turned to Juvia in a panic. "He fuckin' trapped us-!"

 _BANG!_

The two froze at the sound of a gunshot bouncing off the brick walls. Both of them clutched their heads at the loud noise as it vibrated in their skulls and left them swimming in a sea of ringing ears. Gajeel could feel his about to fall off, no thanks to his animal like hearing that had made thing much worse for himself at that moment.

After a moment of slow recovery, they turned their heads in the direction of the shot, Gajeel letting loose a low growl. Standing right in front of them and blocking their escape with a gleaming hand gun was Jet.

"I expected all four of you detectives to show up today, but two will be enough to ruffle some feathers." He smirked and reloaded his weapon. "I thought I would have to trap you myself soon enough, but you did a fine job getting yourselves stuck."

Juvia frowned and straightened her posture, but her partner could tell that she was still shaken by the sudden jolt of sound. "You planned this from the very beginning? To get our backs against the wall and finish us off?"

Jet snapped his fingers and waved his free hand in the air. "Bingo, and I couldn't have done it without your help!" He placed both hands on his gun and started taking a few steps forward towards them. "Thank you for making my job much easier, but unfortunately, I have to kill you now. And when you're friends show up and see you dead, I'll kill them too." He waved his hand, satisfied with his plan. "You may as well give in now."

"That isn't going to happen, Mr. Clark."Juvia tensed up and stepped in front of Gajeel. The latter could see the woman ready herself to defend them both, and he wasn't about to get in her way. She to made a half step forward with her fist clenched tight enough to make her bones visible through her skin."You must have a reason for killing us. The only one I can see based on your attire and weapon of choice is obvious. You're a hitman allied with the Port Mafia."

Jet raised his gun straight for Juvia with a chuckle. "Right again, Rain Woman."

Another shot rang through the alley, Juvia and Gajeel darting from it on opposite sides. The former had lost all sense of surprise and rolled expertly from the path of the bullet. Gajeel on the other hand had hit his shoulder awkwardly and stumbled back on his feet.

"Little sloppy there, newbie."

Gajeel looked up to see Jet standing directly over him. The red eyed man was shocked at his enemy's speed. " _There's no way a man can move that fast over that long of a distance!"_ he thought in a panic. The ginger let out a sadistic laugh before aiming his gun for the shifter's forehead.

"Say your prayers, street lizard!"

"Ability: _Poor Unfortunate Soul_!"

 _BANG!_

Gajeel covered his ears again as the shot grazed his shoulder. The ringing returned with a vengeance as he felt a spray of water on his face. He looked up to see Jet soaking wet and his shooting arm aimed just a foot away from the original target. The shooter turned around to see Juvia with her arm glowing a dark blue, almost the color of the sea during a horrible storm. Her eyes were filled with an unspeakable fury.

"Jet will not lay a hand of Atsushi, as long as I'm alive."

Jet snarled and turned his full attention on her. "You bitch!" he yelled before he vanished into a red and black blur. Gajeel blinked as he tried his best to stop the bleeding on his shoulder. " _His ability must be speed or teleportation. He can dodge our attacks while landing quick blows himself."_

Jet reappeared in front of Juvia, his gun poised to strike. She was ready this time. A surge of water broke from a pipe over her head and came down hard on the attacker's body. He once again was driven away from her and ended up back at the entrance of the alley.

"You can't be serious!" he laughed. "A little water won't kill me-!"

He was shut up as he was engulfed in a ball of water. Juvia had her hand raised towards him and a concentrated look in her glare. The man inside the ball struggled to get out, but flailed around as an unseen current kept him locked inside.

"No, my water won't kill you," Juvia said as she walked towards the red headed assassin, "but I can put you to sleep for the time being."

Jet kicked around a bit more, but soon he started to stop fighting and lost his energy. Though he still made bubbles, showing that he was breathing, his eyes were losing their intensity. He was starting to shut down. His body went still after two minutes of trying to break out from the watery prison.

Juvia lowered her arm and let the ball collapse on itself. The water rushed in all different directions, leaving a sopping wet lump of a man left behind. The blunette let her arm relax and the light with it's runes disappear as quickly as they had come. She stepped towards Jet and leaned over his body to check for signs of life.

Juvia reached her hand reached out and felt his pulse on his wrist. Once she had gotten what she was looking for, she stood back up and went to Gajeel's side. She kneeled down and checked the injury on his shoulder.

"Jet still has a pulse, and his breathing is fine. I don't think he'll be waking up anytime soon. Anderson and Nak- we will inform the agency of the mafia's attempt on our lives and turn Jet over to the authorities." She nodded to herself after being satisfied that he was fine. "The bullet just grazed Naka- you. You may feel some pain for a few days."

He cleared his throat and held his arm up so it would be more comfortable. "Thanks for the quick save. I thought I was a goner." He patted her shoulder and gave her a toothy grin. "And you don't have to correct yourself. Talk the way you want to."

Juvia smiled, her business face lost in an embarrassed blush. "You-..Nakajima is very kind even if he seems to be a brute at first glance."

Gajeel couldn't contain his amusement at her way of speaking. He and his partner shared a round of laughter, enjoying their victory. He clutched his stomach while Juvia giggled ceaselessly into her hand. Both could've cared less considering they were just a bunch of odd balls in an Agency that specialized in attracting the weirdest of the weird.

The two straightened up as soon as the moment of peace was over. Juvia ran a hand through her hair and righted her collar that was askew from her scuffle with Jet. "Nakajima and Anderson should start on our plan. Dazai and Tanizaki will be arriving any minute now-"

 _BANG!_

Time moved at a slow crawl when the gun went off once more. Gajeel watched in horror as Juvia consulved to the ground in front of him and huddled around her stomach in agony. He looked up in horror to see Jet appear a moment later. He had made himself appear only meters away, a new gun still smoking from after use. A splotch of blood was on his hand he held his weapon in.

"And so dies a _Poor Unfortunate Soul_."

Gajeel didn't waste any time as soon as time returned up to speed. He got down on his knees and quickly checked to see if the bullet made it all the way through and didn't cause any horrible internal damage. The bullet made a red splatter just above her left hip, thankfully missing the heart and the stomach entirely. Without wasting anymore precious time, he pressed both of his hands on the entrance of the injury and kept the pressure on it. Juvia cried out in pain when he did, starting to shiver uncontrollably. Pain was etched into her eyes, but she bit her lip and tried to remain calm.

He could feel his own shoulder injury flare up in pain, but he grit his teeth and pushed through it as his heart hammered in his chest. Thankfully, the blood wasn't pooling around her into a puddle due to his quick thinking. Her eyes were scrunched up in pain while her hand was pressed to her bleeding stomach. As long as Gajeel kept the pressure on, she might have a chance.

He at least prayed she had a chance.

Everything was happening too fast. This was the same woman who would stutter over her third person speech, flitting between the two in an attempt to blend in. The woman who had protected him because he couldn't fully control his ability on his own just yet, saving his life at the very last second. This was the woman whose boyfriend thought they were meeting later tonight for some downtime away from everything that was going on.

This wasn't supposed to happen, not to her.

Jet smirked and turned away from the dying investigator, training his sights on Gajeel. " It really is a shame the poor girl is going to die. She would have made the perfect replacement for my current subcontinents." He waved his hand in the air as if sending Juvia's soul away. "I have never seen someone with such a bleeding heart throw their life away for some loser with no future."

"GO TA HELL!" Gajeel shouted over his shoulder out of spite, watching Jet take his sweet time to fire. Even when he yelled, almost snarled at the gangster, he didn't budge from firing position. All he could do was try to find a way to get out of the situation. " _He knows that I can't fight him without activating my ability. I don't even know how to activate it just yet!"_

The shapeshifter looked back to Juvia. Her breathing had become frantic do to the shock, her face beginning to visibly pale from blood loss. She was going to die if Gajeel didn't activate his ability and fight Jet head on. He could even win due to his size advantage over the alleyway.

Even then it may be too late. Without a way to stop the bleeding, she was doomed to die any second. Blood began to seep through his rugged hands and onto her shirt. Her breathing came out in ragged pants, struggling to find air.

Juvia glance at Gajeel with fear in her eyes. She looked on the verge of tears, but they didn't come despite the agony she must've been feeling. Her muscles still stayed tense in case she might need to defend against Jet once more and her own hands went to help cover her wound.

That look in her eyes made Gajeel wish he could've done something. He wished he could fight Jet and get Juvia to safety. Crouching over her in a panic wasn't going to erase the threat of getting shot.

 _If only I could hold out until someone finds us._

 _If only I could be stronger._

 _BANG!_

"ABILITY: _LIGHT SNOW!_ "

A sudden chill fell over the entire area. Snow fell from the sky and landed on the pair of bloodied detectives. Gajeel could see his every breath as he shivered relentlessly under the drop in temperature.

He looked behind him to see that a wall of ice had stopped the bullet from shooting him in the back. Through the ice, he could see that Jet had fled the scene and was replaced with two new figures. One was good sized male while the other an almost unfairly short girl. Gajeel quickly realized that help had arrived in the form of their companions.

The ice disappeared to confirm that he was right about the rescue team. Gray stood with his arm outstretched and light green runes circling in a uniform pattern over his arm. His expression read of pure anger at being tricked and losing their target. Levy waited beside him with a furious look in her eyes, frustrated for the same reasons.

Gray's rage melted away when he saw Juvia bleeding out on the ground. The rush from the danger was gone and replaced with a desperate yell. "Shit!" He cursed while crossing the remaining distance between them.

Juvia heard his voice right away and finally allowed herself to break. Her eyes brimmed with tears and her muscles went slack. "T-thank God!" she tried to stutter out while mustering her remaining strength to sit up. Gray dropped down to where her head was resting and stared in horror at the sight before him, urging her to lay her head on his lap rather than have her get up. "Holly shit, this isn't happening."

Levy kneeled next to Gajeel, cursing everyone and everything while filling him in on what went wrong. "That son of a bitch got away! He always was a fucking coward. He played us like god damn fucking fiddles!" She shoved Gajeel's hands away and took over trying to staunch the flow of blood that just kept coming. The blood stained her bandaged hands and exposed fingers. "The ambulance is too fucking slow! They won't be here for another five fucking minutes!"

Dazai turned to Gray once she had moved all hands out of the way and only her's remained. "Freeze up the wound, right now!"

The man nodded stiffly and set to work right away. The runes returned over his hand as he whispered to Juvia. "I'm here now, shh. It's gonna be fine." Levy took her hands away as Gray placed his own over the wound. "Ability: _Light Snow_." The light brought a misty cloud that froze over the bullet hole. In no time, the wound was covered in a layer of ice and the bleeding had stopped.

Juvia whimpered and twitched from the pain. Gray ran his hands through her hair as the light from ability-use vanished. She gravitated towards his touch and let herself sob her heart out. "Juvia is s-so sorry! J-juvia should have stayed vigilant!"

Gray's face softened into a look of defeat. There was nothing he could do to quell her hysterical thinking that what happened was her fault. Gajeel watched as Gray could only massage the woman's scalp and hold her close to him. He rubbed circles into her back and whispered words of comfort into her ear. In turn, Juvia was beginning to nod off, but had calmed down while in the Gray's arms.

"You look like shit."

Gajeel turned around at the sound of Levy's voice. Her hair was in disarray from running to save Juvia and him from Jet. Her eyes were almost bloodshot in the darkness of the alley. There was no light in them, no confidence, not even a hidden agenda for suicide. Even her posture was all wrong, her head hung low with a tense air around her.

The Levy he had come to know wasn't like this at all. She was snarky in the worst of situations. Her off beat look at reality was refreshing in it's own strange way. It left him reeling and wanting to understand what she was actually meaning to say. Levy held herself as if she was ten feet tall and ruled the country. Her size was never a hindrance when her spirit more than made up for that.

Even her mouth, which seemed to always express only sarcasm and gratitude was now just a flat line of exhaustion.

All he could see was someone who was tired and ready to collapse.

He huffed and ruffled the shorter woman's hair. "So do you, shrimp." The woman sunk under the massive slab of a hand, her neck unable to stand against the weight. Nonetheless, she was too tired to duck away from his touch or retort to her nickname. Levy let Gajeel tease her, his hand still affectionately nestled in her soft locks.

"I have no idea what you're talking about...mammoth..."

He swore he saw a ghost of a smile appear on her lips as the sound of sirens screeched in the distance. Gajeel wouldn't admit that he would sit there all day, trying to coax all the smiles he could out of her.

* * *

Levy stood on top of the hospital roof. She looked out over the twinkling lights of the city as she stood on the edge of the hospital building. Her brain was pounding from a headache she got after sitting for too long. Plus, the only thing in her system was caffeine, and even that was beginning to run on empty. It was calming down because of the pleasant night air that brushed over her exposed hands and face.

Raising her hand, she admired that she at least had fresh bandages on her hands. Levy couldn't stand looking at the blood of her comrade any longer.

She took a deep breath and let the pre-winter scent sink in. "Natsu is going to throw a hissy fit when the snow starts coming." She stretched her hands over her head, the ache from before starting to go away. "At least Juvia may recover faster knowing her favorite season is about to come around."

The detective looked down to see the ER entrance quiet for the moment. She thought about jumping off her ledge and if they would rush her in through the very door she would be falling in front of. "It would only make sense" was her only conclusion to the thought.

In the end, she discontinued the thought because she may block the way for ambulances coming and going from the facility. Her finally getting a clean release at the cost of another's life was not a price she was willing to have them pay.

Thoughts of suicide came flooding in at a steady pace. From previous attempts to future prospects, she just couldn't find a suitable way to end her exsistance. She could only think of a handful of ways that she may leave the world without bothering a soul, someplace far from all that she knew and everyone she loved.

But her pocket book only had so much money for a ticket to the Amazon rainforest and a prime cow carcass. Lions were also hard to come by while living Fiore in the middle of November.

A harsh breeze kicked up, disturbing her bandana that kept her hair in place. Levy hugged her arms close to her chest in order to block out the cold feeling. There was a soft patter as if an animal had found it's way onto the rooftop and decided to run around.

"Enjoying the night, _oh fearless leader_?"

Levy turned around at the use of her old title. She knew of only two people who used that to address her, but there was only one who was still alive. That one person also had a very easy to recognize voice: arrogant with a hint of snark. Standing with his hands behind his back was Jet. She could see the butt of a gun peeking out from one of his jacket pockets.

She felt anger bubble up, but she pushed it aside for the time being. Instead, she put on a fake smirk and faced up to the ginger haired hitman. "You have some nerve hurting my comrade like that. I'd snap that neck of yours right now if I had the chance to." she stated as if it was some formality of little importance. "But that's too merciful for someone like you, and I'm too good to steal a car and drop your corpse back at the Port Mafia HQ."

Jet chuckled and stepped forward to join Levy on the ledge. "I know that fact very well. We were team mates once. At least, this is, back in the good old days." He stuffed his hands in his pockets while watching the city with bland disinterest. "It was just us three against this fucked up world. The Don even named you his heir to the business because you were so good at being bad." He leaned in close enough for Levy to smell his ridiculous cologne. "Do you remember those days?"

Levy cringed internally at the memories of those years. All the blood, all the corruption she had tried to leave behind made her falter. The blood of many people were on her hands since the day "the Don" came to her and offered some money in exchange for her ability. She did her best not to show her disgust and continued forwards with her facade in tact.

"I don't dwell on such pissy proceedings. Mafia life wasn't all that was cracked up to be, so I left and that's that." She turned to Jet with sullen look. "Unlike you who sold out all those years ago when you killed your own brother."

Jet's cool demeanor had caved before he turned to face Levy head on. Gone was his joking manner, replaced by loathing. "You know that I had to do it! Droy betrayed the mafia, and he betrayed _us_."

Levy flinched at the mention of Droy's name. The picture of a smiling, round face flashed across her memories. The gentle soul who only wanted to save his family, but instead was brushed aside like trash. She had many regrets when she had left the mafia for good, many she could atone for by dying quietly without ceremony.

Droy was not one of them and something she could never be forgiven for.

"Being a run away and being a traitor are two different things." she retorted, shoving her hands in her pockets to hide the fact she wanted to punch Jet in his sneering face. "You being among the latter."

"He didn't deserve your pity! He should've killed himself before I had to finish the job!"

Levy had to summon up all her restraint in order to not get into a fight with Jet. "He had no other choice, Jonathan. It was run or be tossed out like garbage. He took the path that required greater courage than what you or I could've had."

"He was a spineless coward!" he shouted, finally breaking. His voice echoed in the night and bounced off the stars and hit Levy full force. When it had stopped, he growled and leapt back onto the roof. "And so are you for wanting to follow him."

She kept her composure as she heard Jet begin to leave the area. Her heart was racing from having to hold back to much anger. Her very fingertips burned from being held back by her own pride for her old friend. For a split second, she almost let herself take a swing just to prove a petty point to someone she had once called her brother. Levy had almost broke her own code she swore on Droy's barren grave.

But soon, all that was left of it was disappointment. While some of it was directed towards Jet, much of it was directed to herself. It was bitter, somewhat unjustified, but brought Levy's enraged buzz to a somber throb.

Before he left, she let a smidgen of her mask crack. She let the toes of her shoes dangle off the edge of the building before letting one last line escape her lips.

"I guess there is no hope in saving you, old friend."

* * *

 **Well that happened...**

 **Don't worry, Juvia will be just fine! (I hope) (Don't give me that look. I may be the writer, but the story does what it wants!)**

 **Welcome back the end fic where I post the powers and the bios of our characters!**

 **Name:** Jonathan "Jet" Clark

 **Height:** 5'7

 **Age:** 24

 **Ability:** Hermes the Messenger God

Jet is a member of the Port Mafia and one of it's best hitmen. He joined as a means of using his ability to get a quick thrill. He was a part of the notorious Team Shadow Gear that handled the most difficult of jobs. After the death of Droy, his best friend and team mate, the leader left the mafia soon after. Jet despises them with all his heart and swore he would one day get his vengeance on his leader and mentor for leaving him behind.

While not as smart as some members, he is good at making choices on the fly. He has been known to be crafty and manipulative do to an event from his past. He uses people's weaknesses against them and brings enemies swiftly.

His ability grants him speed beyond human comprehension. So far, Jet's highest speed is five times the speed of sound without damaging his body and organs. His fighting style is to disarm an opponent then shoot them while they are still trying to get their bearing together. If caught in a tight spot, he'll play dead until he can strike once more.

 **Likes:** Guns, Coffee, Being fast

 **Dislikes:** Droy Ferox, Being slow, Levy McGarden

 **Name:** Mirajane Strauss (Codename: She Devil)

 **Height:** 5'9

 **Age:** 27

 **Ability:** Macbeth

Mirajane was forced to become an adult after her parents died at the hands of the Port Mafia. She winds up dropping out of high school and works to start her own business to support her brother and sister. After she receives help from the ADA, she runs a cafe near their base operations with her brother who runs the kitchen.

Mira has a heart of gold through and through. She rarely gets angry or raises her voice against other people. But when she gets mad, she would destroy half the city with her ability. Family and friends are her first priority in life and it never ceases to amaze people how far she would go to keep them safe.

Her ability allows her to turn her ambition into raw power, giving her demon like strength and speed in order to bring down her enemies. The more she wants to use her power to succeed, the worse the damage. If not controlled properly, the power consumes her very soul.

 **Likes:** Her siblings, Her cafe, Shopping

 **Dislikes:** The mafia, Her family being separated, Her siblings getting hurt

 **Name:** Elfman Strauss (Codename: The Beast Man)

 **Height:** 7'5

 **Age:** 25

 **Ability:** King of the Beasts

After the death of his parents, Elfman tries to step up as the man of the family. While Mira tells him to remain in school and pursue an education, he finishes high school and excels in his culinary arts school. After college he finds that his siblings have an agreement with the ADA and joins them at Mira's cafe as head chef and barista.

He used to have a very submissive personality, but he steps up to become a man as he gets older. His gym has to keep extra weights around because of his insane strength and determination to protect his sisters. Don't be deceived though, the man has a heart of pure gold for all life. When he sees any person struggling, he'll step in and help them.

Elfman's ability allows him to change into a monstrous creature. In this form, he is capable of throwing semis, small houses, and even cruise liners if he's really trying. He has a surprisingly good grasp on his transformation and assists Natsu in controlling his transformations.

 **Likes:** His sisters, Cooking kickass meals, Working out

 **Dislikes:** Hurting animals, Making his sisters cry, Failing to protect his family

 **Name:** Lisanna Strauss (Codename: The Pet Vet)

 **Height:** 5'8

 **Age:** 22

 **Ability:** Call of the Wild

Lisanna is the youngest member of the Strauss siblings and the most sensitive. She almost shut down after the death of her parents, refusing to speak for almost a year, reserving herself to talking to animals. She feels even worse when her sister gives up her education for the sake of her family. After the ADA deal, she throws herself into her education to become a veterinarian and make her family proud.

While Lisanna is a kind person, she is prone to being sassy when it comes to animals. She developes a six sense when working with them and contributes to developing her ability. While not as physically strong as her siblings, she more than makes up for it in intelligence and wit. Her best friend Natsu can atest to this fact. Lucy is always very glad for Lisanna's company and is the reason she and Natsu started dating.

Lisanna's ability allows her to become any animal she has seen or heard before. The transformation only lasts a few hours, but gives her an edge when trying to gain information for the ADA. She rarely uses her ability to fight, but if she needs to, she can snap a bone or two.

 **Likes:** Helping animals, Helping everyone, Her siblings

 **Dislikes:** People in pain, Suffering Animals, Her siblings getting hurt


	4. All's Fair In War

**Hello everyone! I hope you all are feeling less depressed after the recent chapters.**

 **Anywho, let it also be known that I don't do drugs. I have never been on drugs in my entire life and I hopefully never accidently get caught up in the world of drugs. You'll know what I mean in a minute or two. Enjoy today's chapter!**

Gajeel was having an amazing morning.

He had gone out the day before and found a nifty little store just three blocks from the ADA's apartment complex that sold fresh ingredients for cooking. Now, he had the means to start making some good, home style meals after a long day at work or before the job even began that day. Taking advantage of this, he had prepared a meal that he had slaved over and was beaming like a fool over.

As he strutted down the sidewalk like he own the entire block, he still had the taste of his creation fueling his joyful mood. His new coat snapped in time with the winter winds that had blown in days after his first assignment-gone-wrong.

That assignment...it still replayed in his mind even after Juvia had gotten the green light in terms of her health. Juvia's near death at the hands of the Port Mafia, Levy's personality one-eighty, and Gray devoting his full attention to his dearly beloved. The man had even took a temporary leave of absence in order to be with Juvia at all times of the day, everyday until she could get back on her feet and into the case.

The ability user known as by Jet still raised all kinds of concern for Gajeel. For one, it showed how inexperienced he was as a member of the agency. He didn't even have control over the unstable power that he couldn't comprehend how to wield. It laid his training to get stronger in that aspect out clear enough.

Levy had told him though that his training to control "Beast Beneath the Moonlight" would have to wait until later. She herself would need to be needed there in case he were to go berserk and tear apart a city block. Additionally, the shrimp also kept forgetting to take him out on account of having nothing but thoughts of suicide and books on her mind.

It was going to be a little while until he could fix his training issue.

Then there was the fact that the Port Mafia had the power to take down the ADA's ranks with only one man. Jet seemed to be too cocky, too clever in the encounter. Even when he was against the wall, he could utilize his ability to such a great extent.

It was almost terrifying and made Gajeel glad that the backup came in time.

For now, he pushed those thoughts away and focused on planning how to tackle his stack of paperwork for the day. Gajeel knew that training would have to wait until Levy knew that he was ready to learn.

* * *

 _Hello readers! It's Lucy, but you may know me as Doppo Kunikida from the first chapter! I'm also more commonly known as "the Star-eyed Author of Magnolia" on my popular writing blog. Maybe I'll share the URL with you sometime so you can read my stories._

 _Don't worry, there's some fanfiction, too!_

 _Levy told me that Gajeel and her had already introduced the last chapters, so she told me that I could take a turn. Apparently she wanted to keep the introduction out of Natsu's hands. As his girlfriend, I can understand._

 _So far, Juvia has made a speedy recovery. Gray has taken a small leave to take care of his girlfriend. Levy has been flittering in and out of the office more and more and it's starting to raise some questions about what she's been up to lately. I really hope she isn't doing anything too crazy. Keeping her in check when she's within two city blocks of a bookstore is hard enough._

 _Um...I didn't prepare anything else to be honest. I just wanted to say "hi" to all you lovely people and wish you luck on the rest of your journey through the story!_

* * *

"And so, I punched the guy right in the face and yelled 'Hands off! She's mine'!" Natsu finished his story with a flourish of his hand as Gajeel walked into the office building. "And that's how I got arrested for assault last month." The former had been chatting with the receptionist about a time he had gone out with Lucy and someone got a little too handsy with her. Gajeel had heard the story one before on break. At the end, Natsu had promptly warned him that Lucy was his and his alone.

The newcomer smirked and approached the reception desk. Natsu looked up when Gajeel came closer, giving him a quick wave. "Hey, Atsushi! Ready for another desk day?" he asked while placing a hand on his hip. Gajeel nodded with a mock groan. "Yeah, but I ain't happy about it." he said, trudging past his coworker and towards his desk.

Natsu chuckled and walked with the red eyed man, a teasing grin on his face. "Dazai still postponing your training? What's taking her so long?"

Gajeel shrugged as he reached his desk, pulled out a chair, and slumped in the seat. "I don't know. She's got an agenda all er' own." He took notice of the accumulating stack of papers at the corner of the wooden table top. "Only God knows what's going on inside that head of hers."

Natsu nodded and leaned over the table top. "I heard that she used to be locked up in the loony bin before the boss picked her up and brought her here." He smiled mischievously and giggled like a schoolgirl. "Word on the street, she was so crazy that the asylum shoved her into the old man's care saying," the shapeshifter threw his head back in feigned exasperation, "'Take this demon girl far away! We can't take it anymore!'".

Unimpressed with the dramatically relayed gossip, Gajeel just hummed to please the eccentric man. "Yeah, sure." He grabbed a pen from a nearby tin and began to read over the newest complaints about the ADA's latest escapades. The first line read in bold, black letters "Damage Relief Funds". He knew that it had to deal with Levy's suicidal tendencies and Lucy's attempts to stop her partner from divulging from the case at hand right away.

From the letter attached to the paperwork, he got the full story.

 _Dear Armed Detective Agency,_

 _I am Jason from the Magnolia Weekly magazine. Our company has a complaint regarding two of your detectives that were investigating Port Mafia activity that had been happening around our building recently._

 _Dazai Osamu had attempted to poison herself with one of the chemicals she found on a janitorial cleaning cart while on the job. Before she could, Kunikida Doppo had stopped her while tearing up almost the entire hallway trying to catch a Port Mafia member that was urging Miss Osamu into the act. Ten cameras, five offices, one bathroom, and the breakroom were destroyed in the fight._

 _How she was able to cause that much damage on her own and in limited spaces, we don't know those details. The floors camera's had short circuited in the process of the chase. All they caught was a flash of bright light and then they went to static._

 _I would ask that you'd write a letter of apology and compensate us for the damages._

 _Jason Mavoc_

 _P.S: Could I get an autograph from all the ADA members? I'm a huge fan!_

Natsu must've seen Lucy's pen name because he leaned over and scanned the complaint paper with twinkle in his eyes. After he had scanned the entire story, he came back up while grumbling curses under his breath. "What's the excuse you're going to use? Maybe you should say that they were using flash grenades in order to bring down their target. It would explain the light and seem believable."

Gajeel huffed and started filling in the necessary paperwork for damage compensation. He would hand off the numbers and money part to the agency's accounting partner. "I dunno, maybe I'll just tell em' the truth. Levy's batshit insane and Lucy gets trigger happy with her _rescue_ attempts."

Natsu clicked his tongue and sat on the desk. "Or you could say that it was the target's fault and spare my girlfriend from grief." The pinkette swung his legs in a child-like fashion. "Should I get everyone in the office to sign a sheet of paper and fulfill that guy's wish?" he asked in a sing-song tone. Gajeel stopped writing and gave Natsu a disinterested frown. "I don't care, just leave me be and let me finish this-"

The front door to the office swung open and hit the wall with a bang. Unsteady feet stomped into the room and stopped at the center. Everyone looked up to see Levy, swaying like a drunkard and grinning like a fool. Once the woman was as steadied enough, she cupped one hand over her mouth and bellowed at the top of her lungs for all to hear.

"GOOD MORNING, FUCKERS!"

After her announcement she started to giggle as if she knew something that only she knew. Levy played with the collar of her trench coat and mumbled cheerfully to her work space right next to Gajeel. "I wonder if penguins have feelings?" she asked aloud, chuckling soon after.

She came to a conclusion with a resounding "Nah!" and staggered to her seat. All eyes watched her as she sat down and began to spin in her chair and squeal like it was the best ride in the world, clutching a coffee tightly in her hands.

No one knew what to say at the blunette's sudden outburst. They just watched in shock as the usually horrible morning person was wide awake and acting more childish than ever. Not a single person could take their eyes off of the woman as she continued to mess around in her chair. There was nothing they could blame it on and just accepted that she went drinking too early.

Gajeel on the other hand knew what was going on. From her way of speaking, the way she walked, he could tell what had caused her to go on this strange, regressive way of acting.

He stood up and crossed the small space between their desks. Levy started humming and rocking back and forth in her seat. She didn't notice someone coming closer to her until a shadow loomed over her. Looking up, she giggled at her co-worker and cocked her head to the side.

"Heeeyyy, Atsushi!" she almost sang in a slurred fashion. She chuckled into her free hand as if she had told a really good joke. "It sounds like at sushi!" She gave him a another grin and rocked herself in the chair. "Your name sounds like a Twitter handle!"

Gajeel wasn't amused and resorted to crossing his arms over his chest. "What the hell are you on?" he asked with a deep frown on his face.

Levy shrugged and set down her coffee cup sloppily. "I don't know~! Really good coffee?" She gave him a light punch in the stomach, making the detective more unsteady despite her sitting down. "You worry too much!"

Gajeel wasn't convinced and instead flicked her on the forehead. Levy recoiled with a hiss of annoyance. "You've got to be the worst liar in the world." He let himself straighten up to intimidate her into giving an answer.

"Fess up, I know you're either drunk or high."

Knowing Levy, she wouldn't be swayed, but it was worth a try. Just as he had expected, she just continued to make lazy circles in place. "If I were lying could I do this?" Levy threw her head back over the chair and watched her world turn to a blur. "Everything is spinning!" she sang softly, letting her arms hang limply at her sides. The hem of her coat flared out as she went around and around. "I'm flying, Jack!"

The dragon shifter was having enough of her antics. Gajeel, without giving too much of an effort, grabbed Levy by the collar of her coat and lifted her up with one arm. The woman protested and kicked at open air in a feeble attempt to get away. "Put me down or I'm calling the police!" she screamed, but her words were mixed up on account of a slow tongue. Gajeel snorted at her yelling and gave her a tiny shake to repay her for making his eardrums bleed. "You're high on something. Do you want to get arrested?" he grumbled.

Levy struggled some more and tried throwing some punches instead. "Then call the agency!" she shouted, gaining even more attention from other office workers. Natsu tried to stifle his laughter, but failed and ultimately was on the ground in hysterical howling at the top of his lungs. Lucy just shook her head at her boyfriend's antics. Gajeel ignored all of it and bent close to the enraged woman and took a deep breath of her scent.

He didn't make a habit of smelling others, but he could pick up certain aromas from around the office and could tell who was nearby just by his nose alone. Over the week and a half he had been here, he could distinguish most of his unit and some of the attendants. It was both a blessing and a curse that he could pick out the distinct smells that everyone carried everyday. Natsu having to be the worst with an air of ash covered in wet cat. It took all of his willpower not to throw Natsu out the window when the fellow shifter neglected to throw on a more pleasant cologne the morning before work.

He knew that Levy always seemed to be covered in a coffee and paper scent. Today, there was something off. Under the layer of caffeine and ink was a something funky. he picked up a raw taste that stuck to the roof of his mouth. While it had undertones of dirt, He couldn't mistake it for anything other than what he guessed. Gajeel held Levy a little more to inspect further. Her eyes were dilated to the size of dinner plates and her fingers that reached out to claw herself away from his grip had dirt under the nails.

Yes, he was positive of what Levy had done to get into this state.

Gajeel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please don't tell me you actually got high on shrooms." he grumbled. Levy stopped fighting and resorted to swinging back and forth with a bashful expression. "I read on a forum that shrooms are a trendy way to commit suicide." She gave Gajeel a smug look and started to giggle again. "I got them from this nice fellow in an alleyway before work and now I feel silly!" Levy kicked her legs to get a better swing. "I get to die happy and no one gets unhappy!"

Gajeel rolled his eyes and set Levy back down in her chair. "Yeah right. For a detective, you're dumb as rocks." he mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "You can't die from one starter dose of shrooms." She continued her spinning from where she left as Lucy walked over.

"I don't care!" Levy sang and continued to spin as her partner reached the pair. Her brown eyes watched warily as Levy rode out her drug high in ecstasy. The blonde looked over to Gajeel with worry glazed over her surprised visage.

"Osamu won't die from shrooms, right?" she asked, righting her bowtie while pushing past him and get to her partner. "We kinda need her around to keep our abilities in check."

He sighed and shook his head, letting her pass by to stop Levy from slipping off her chair. "Nah, she'll just be loopy for a few hours. I don't think she took enough to kill herself or she'd be dead by now. The only way she can die now is if we mix alcohol in her system, so keep her out of the bars."

Now that Lucy a good grip on Levy, she helped her up until she was standing on wobbly feet. Her hair was askew from her constant activity and her body was drooping like a wilted flower. Lucy pushed the unruly tresses back into place with motherly care. "That's good, because we have an appointment with someone tomorrow and I can't go in alone. Believe it or not, she's really good at using blackmail against other people."

Gajeel felt himself shudder internally. He made a mental note to not embarrass himself in public or in the presence of a camera. "I didn't need to know."

Lucy supported her intoxicated friend and led her to a couch at the back of the office. "I think it's time you took a nap." she huffed as Levy leaned heavily on her partner for support. The blunette snuggled closer to the taller female with a pout on her lips. "I don't wanna go to bed! I wanna go and punch mafia into a river!" she complained, but ultimately submitted to being led away to the couch.

Lucy was having trouble keeping Levy up and decided turned back to her pink haired buffoon of suitor. "You wouldn't mind helping out, honey? She's a bit of a deadweight at the moment." Natsu had stopped laughing at Lucy's request. "Sure thing, Kunikida." He came up on his fellow detectives other shoulder. Levy didn't struggle against them and opted to just enjoy the free ride. She even started humming again, urging others to join in on the chorus.

Once the three reached the couch, Levy's escorts rested her into the plush cushions. Lucy supported her friend and removed her jacket. "Why don't you take a short nap? We'll take care of your business for the day." The blunette kept up her tune and cuddled into the pillow that leaned up against the armrest. "That sounds nice!" she answered with a yawn. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she let her eyes flutter to a close. Before she drifted off, she whispered under her breath to herself, pleased with the change in location.

"Auf Wiederhören, Snicket..."

Lucy smiled at her friend and pulled a blanket that lay folded underneath the couch. She unfurled it and tenderly wrapped up the tiny woman until she was nice and snug. Levy barely stirred, tuckered out from her earlier antics. Her face was tranquil and showed no signs of caring about anything but restful dreams. She wasn't going anywhere soon. Lucy stood back up, backed away from the couch, and turned back to Gajeel.

"Looks like she'll be out for awhile. She sleeps like a rock, if she ever sleeps at all." she assured, rolling up the sleeves of her tan dress shirt. Gajeel nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Gihi, one less psycho to worry about I guess." he mused with his trademark chuckle.

Lucy giggled and gave him a small pat on the arm. "Natsu's still in the room, you know. We're not out of the woods yet." she jested while said Natsu scoffed and wrapped an arm over his girlfriend's shoulders. "At least I don't talk in my sleep about a guy named 'Snicket' and deny knowing about him the next day." he poked back, nuzzling his nose in the woman's golden locks.

Gajeel quirked an eyebrow at the mention of the name Snicket. He straightened his posture up before speaking. "Whose Snicket? Someone we know?" he asked.

Natsu looked up and shook his head. His pink bangs bounced along with his movements. "That's another one of the _Seven Great Unknowns_ of the ADA. It's the mystery of Levy's past." Lucy tipped her head in agreement and flourished her pointer finger. "There's a betting pool right now to guess what she did before she joined the Agency. It's been going on since she first walked in the door about four years ago."

Her expression changed as she leaned in and dropped her voice to almost a whisper. Gajeel brought himself closer and listened carefully to what she was about to say.

"Between the active detectives, we believe that Snicket may have been a good friend who had died not long after her induction into the ADA." she muttered somberly, pulling back to her original position. "But that's just a theory. Only the Master knows the real story."

Gajeel furrowed his brow in thought. Now that he had a chance to step down and really consider one lingering question: what did he really know about Levy? He knew that she was an eccentric, suicide crazed lunatic with too much time on her hands. At times, she could be a great actress who could pull off the part of any person she chose to be. Not too mention she was a versatile coworker who had a wide range of skills. She could even show true emotions, even though they were limited to joy, frustration, and disinterest.

Snicket, another alias related to a piece of highly respected literature. The stories related to the name were full of grim topics regarding the lives of three children thrown into "unfortunate" circumstances. There was mystery interwoven into every installment to the series and had perplexed it's readers for years.

Gajeel remembered reading those stories when he was younger. They were some of the only books that the orphanage had the whole series of. It was somewhat fitting consider that the situation of the place itself was grim as could be. He thought they were the most depressing and silly books he had ever read, and it put him at ease in a strange way. Wrapping his head around the different concepts were hard and left him reeling, but he kept coming back to the story after he gathered his thoughts. It was ironic to him that the name Snicket would be brought back into his life when he was trying to piece together the new mystery that was Levy's past.

The only question that remained was who the mystery person was.

"Good morning everyone!" a jovial voice boomed from the front of the office. All heads turned to see a god of a man with a face that was so merry, smiles appeared on the faces of every detective and attendant. His hair was snow white and spiked up to give him the look of a tough jock while also accenting his rugged features. A scar ran along his jawline and added to that manly prowess. He carried a large coffee cylinder meant to serve large groups of people. Gajeel could already taste the bitter caffeine on his tongue.

Lucy waved the man over. "Good morning Elfman! Thanks for giving us a hand today!" Said man changed the coffee cylinder to rest under his arm to her off as he made his approach, as if to wave away her gratitude in a humbling way. "Nah, just being a man!"

" _So this was Elfman Strauss."_ Gajeel thought as the giant walked towards the group of three. " _He's a lot taller than I thought. Does he go to the gym religiously?"_

Elfman reached the group in only three strides across the room. As he passed by the desks, he greeted everyone with a warm smile and a wave. Not a single soul could hold back their own grins and threw their own hands up to let him know his greeting was received. There was always a chorus of "hello's" and "good morning's" in his massive wake.

Lucy lifted her chin up as high as it would go so she could look Elfman in the eye. Natsu didn't have to do the same, but still had to adjust his posture considerably to meet the man's gaze.

"I brought the usual blend for the office." Elman announced as if was an Oscar winner. He even held out the large cylinder as if it was one of the golden statues. "Mira says 'hello' by the way!"

Natsu smirked and took the object away, but not before pecking Lucy on the cheek. The blonde fumbled with her fingers for a moment then jumped into a more composed demeanor for the newcomer.

"Is Mira doing alright this morning? Last time I saw her, she looked a little paler than usually." Lucy inquired, placing a hand on her hip. Elfman nodded. "She's not sick, but after a walk outside, she was just fine. She's at the mall with Evergreen today and happy as a bird in flight."

"That's good," Lucy shook her head with a concerned look on her face, "the poor woman will work herself into early grave if she keeps this up!"

The blonde suddenly made a one-eighty and turned to Gajeel. "By the way, this is the new guy that Dazai brought with us to the cafe the other day. His name is Gajeel Redfox, codename Atsushi Nakajima." she leaned close and elbowed Gajeel lightly. "And he can turn into a dragon just like Natsu can."

Elman put his attention on the new detective with a friendly smile. "Pleasure to meet ya'! The name's Elfman." He rubbed the back of his neck and gained a more sheepish demeanor. "Sorry I couldn't meet ya' sooner. I heard that you haven't been able to activate yer' ability on yer' own yet." Elfman extended his hand out for a greeting. "So the agency called me in to give ya' some advice and get ya' to be the best of the rest!"

Lucy grinned and motioned to Natsu who was just across the room. "All of our shifters got advice from Elfman on how to control their abilities. Natsu wouldn't've have even been able to transform his arm if it wasn't for him."

Natsu perked up at the mention of his name and shouted to the group. "I didn't need any help! I was just fine!" The woman rolled her eyes and waved her boyfriend off. "You know that you'd still be terrorizing the city if it wasn't for him taking you down with _King of the Beasts_ , and you know it!" she chided and returned to Gajeel and Elfman.

"Anyway, Natsu and Elfman are going to be taking you out of town tomorrow and teaching you the basics of transformations and getting in touch with your ability." she finished and dug into her pocket. From it, she produced a sealed envelope and handed it over . "You're going to need your phone and what's in this. Just report to the cafe at eight o'clock sharp."

Gajeel accepted the envelope skeptically and turned it over in his hands with a careful eye. He looked to his superior with a shrug. "I get that you got me a phone, but what's in this?"

Lucy paused and then began to chuckle under her breath. "No one told you about what today is, Gajeel?" Gajeel shook his head.

"Is it a national holiday I don't know about?" he asked, sliding the envelope in onto his desk while Lucy collected herself. She put her hands on her hips and gave Gajeel and thumbs up. "It's Thursday, newbie. That means payday!"

* * *

Gajeel sat alone in his apartment, watching a rerun of a TV show from the eighties. One hand rested on the armrest of the couch, the other was holding a can of after-dinner beer. The room had been left dark, letting the screen glowing bright enough to light up the most of the living space. The only sound that could be distinguished was the drone of cheesy dialogue and a driving rock soundtrack. With curtains drawn and no one but him, it was the perfect time to kick back and relax. At least in Gajeel's opinion, that was true.

He had always loved being alone in some dark alley after a long day of trying to find something to eat and bashing heads in. Now that he didn't have to worry about keeping a territory or dumpster diving, there was much more free time on his hands. He found an old TV at a pawn shop and got cable. He bought a case of beer, microwaved a quick meal, and everything was right with the world. Gajeel was living a good life for once.

He tried to focus on the show the best he could, trying to block out how deafening the transition of silence was from commercials to the show. While it was nice to be finally sleeping indoors from now on, Gajeel had a hard time adjusting to the quieter atmosphere. He more than once expected to hear cars rushing by on the streets or other homeless schmucks trying to settle in for the night. Having a space of his own though him through a loop. There wasn't a recent memory familiar enough to help the shifter coop with that fact.

Gajeel also had to make a double take at the envelope sitting on the coffee table in front of him. The lip of it had been opened and the check was waiting inside, ready to be cashed on his way to his "training session" tomorrow. He still couldn't believe that he had opened a checking account that afternoon and his debit card was coming in a week or two.

Soon enough, he couldn't need to be stuffing bill in his pockets like a hobo. Gajeel will be a proper adult with a job and stable living conditions. He didn't even have to pay rent being a part of the ADA. It was a fulfilling feeling that settled deep into his stomach and rolled off his thoughts in a positive wave.

As soon as he finished his training, he would be free to take cases on his own, earning more money in the process. And with more money meant upgrading to a higher lifestyle.

 _Knock, knock knock!_

Gajeel didn't flinch at the sound of someone knocking at the door.. He was very accustomed to loud noises in order to sleep through the night, no matter how annoying they were. Though that didn't mean he was going to answer it. He just held his breath and prayed to whoever could hear him for the person to just walk away and talk to him tomorrow. All he wanted to do was sit by himself and think of absolutely nothing but his show.

Unfortunately, he was unlucky that night.

"I know you're watching Walker: Texas Ranger." he heard a voice say in a hushed tone, as if they knew he had superhuman hearing. "Open up or I'm picking this lock, _dragon man_." Their words were teasing and had a slight bit of song laced in at the end. He knew who it was before he even thought about getting up from his seat. It only glued him closer to the couch, silently hoping that they would give up and not pursue their threats.

Instead, he heard the sound of a door knob being wobbled around. Gajeel jerked up and stumbled onto his feet in a flurry of legs and feet. He rushed to the door, threw on a light switch and tried to unlock the door. "Why does it always have to be me." he cursed under his breath as he fumbled with to find the lock and turn it.

Gajeel swung the door open with a huff. Standing with her hands across her chest and feigned innocence radiating off of her in droves was Levy. Her eyes were ringed red, but a little sharper than earlier that day. She still wore her work clothes with her coat resting loosely across her shoulders. The bandages covered her neck and arms all the way to her palms as usual. Her pale feet were a ghostly white against the carpet of the hallway as she smirked up at him with her cat-like grin.

Gajeel, on the other hand, was less than happy. He sighed and crossed his arms across his chest indignantly. "You better have a good reason for barging in at ten at night."

Levy shrugged and welcomed herself into the apartment with a confident stride. "I need a favor, and you owe me for the time I bought you dinner." Gajeel stuck his arm out to block the woman from just walking in. "I didn't kill ya that night, how does that sound? Plus, I had to deal with your sorry ass earlier today." He dug his foot into the floor and shoved her backwards. "I ain't some junky that'll do anything you want because you're acting sweet. Now get out and get some sleep, shorty."

The smaller detective faltered as she was pushed away from the doorway and back into the black hallway. As quickly as she misstepped, she regained control over her feet and skipped right back to Gajeel. She stood on her tiptoes and clasped her hands behind her back. "Aw, come on! I just need you to do one thing for me and I'll be out of your hair!" Levy brought her hands in front of her body and pressed the pads of her fingers together. "Besides," she added while showing off a bobby and needle, "if you lock me out, I'll be able to break back in. Your choice."

Gajeel groaned internally and slapped himself on the head. "Is it too late to bribe you?"

Levy nodded and stepped inside carefully smugly. "Afraid so, Redfox." She sauntered in and surveyed the space without so much as glancing to check if Gajeel was following behind her. He closed the door and put the switch into locked position. The last thing he wanted was another person dropping in unannounced. The blunette reached the living room and looked at the show that was still playing on the screen with nostalgic glee.

She turned on the balls of her pasty feet to see Gajeel watching her with a glare. "I like what you've done with the place." she complimented while finding herself a seat on the couch. "It's simple yet very you."

Gajeel rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. "What do ya' need? More bandages?"

Levy tucked stray curl of her hair behind her ear. "I was wondering if I could borrow your phone real quick. I need to meet with someone tonight, but my _said_ someone has been avoiding me because he wants to canoodle around rather than help me."

"I can't imagine why." Gajeel muttered sarcastically. Levy shrugged and huffed in annoyance. "My phone is at the office, and I know for a fact that I'm not asking Natsu for a spare key." she said. "He might be younger than me but he's out cold and crabby. If I wake him up now, he might burst into flames and burn the dorm down." She deadpanned and shook her head. "It's happened more than once."

Gajeel shrugged and held up a hand. "Alright, just wait right here." He walked over to his coffee table where his phone was laying next to his pay check. When he came back into the entrance hall, Levy held out her hand expectantly. "I'll be fast, don't worry!" Her thumb nonchalantly typed in a number at an alarming speed then she raised the device to her ear.

It rung three times before a muffled voice came from the other side. Gajeel was able to pick it up despite the background noise of the TV.

" _What is it Dazai? Do you even own a watch? It's ten at night and, contrary to popular belief, people need sleep in order to function."_

The voice was deep and heavily accented, but Gajeel couldn't place a place with the dialect. It was also not a big surprise that this person was also a little fed up with Levy. She just made a goofy smile and snickered at her companion.

"Of course I know what time it is, time for you and I to have a drink. Although, if you don't come, that's fine too." Her face donned a dark expression. "By the way, does Evergreen know about you stealing her favorite wine and how it's now sitting in Laxus's' alcohol cabinet? I thought you told me it was a gift from her to your relationship?"

There was a grumble and shifting from the other speaker. " _Are you always going to be a pill whenever you need something?"_ There was a pause then a heavy sigh. " _Are you sure we can't talk tomorrow or over the phone?"_

Levy nodded, mostly to herself. "I'm positive. It has to be in person and tonight. So get your butt to the bar and I'll be there in ten minutes. Kunikida gave me the keys to her car and made me promise not to crash it into a book store."

" _I'll see you at the usual place."_

The line went dead and Levy pulled the phone away from her ear. She handed it back to Gajeel and grinned up at him. "Well I got someplace to be. Deals to make and bad guys to catch, at least among other things." she explained, opening the door to let herself. "Thanks again, remind me to get you a coffee for the trouble."

The man nodded curtly. "I'll hold you to that. Have a nice drink." She threw him a wave before closing the door softly behind her.

Gajeel stood watching the door for a moment longer, taking a moment to process what just happened. He simply shrugged and returned to the couch to finish the rest of his show.

 _I'll never understand that woman._

* * *

Levy rotated her ankles while sitting atop her favorite bar stool. The night before left her sore and her feet aching. That taught her not to go running around through alleyways and instigating the local street gangs for information. The pain was worth it, she has all the juicy intel that she could ever have hoped for.

She listened to the quiet hum of the heater in the corner and the mild chatter of the few patrons that remained from the after-work rush. Her finger traced over the collar of her shirt, a nervous habit that she had developed at a young age. Her jacket was slung across the back of her stool.

The bartender organized his selection of beverages in silence from behind the countertop. From time to time he would throw her a passing glance out of curiosity.

He was an old gentleman, wrinkles decorating his face like a painting. There also a gentle expression whenever she was around. Despite seeming to be indifferent to her presence, he knew Levy better than most. She couldn't even begin to thank him enough for the company he had provided after a long day or hard case. He always had a bottle of her favorite whiskey in stock just for her. It was just one more reason that she would never go to another bar unless she was traveling. Even then it felt wrong.

It was a comfort to Levy, as if he and the bar were permanent fixtures of the city. She felt that if she leave for a hundred years, come back, and he would still be here positioning bottles so that the light would catch the glass just right.

The stool beside Levy was pulled out and a green haired man took a seat beside her. His long tresses were tied up with a ponytail in order to keep it neat and orderly. He easily settled in with a jacket slung on the back of his bar chair. His arms rested on the countertop and a frown was set on his face. Levy smiled in contrast and raised two finger in the air. The bartender saw and gave her a respectful nod of acknowledgement. She let her hand down and proceed to drum on the old wood that made up the bar area.

"How was work today? Anything interesting at the desk job of yours?" she asked. The man shook his head and faced her. "Nothing that will satisfy your need for excitement. Mostly just filing and a never ending stream of paperwork. And what about you, any cases that you can share with me?"

Levy continued to drum on the counter. "I was asleep most of the day, but I did case down some wannabe gang members last night and the day before. Kunikida had easily rounded them up with her ability while I took care of their leader." she sighed. "It was almost too easy. I swear that I'll go stir crazy I don't find something worthwhile other than plotting my death and falling to follow through."

The man hummed in agreement. "I feel the same. Our department has been taking on pretty numerous tasks because of the Prot Mafia, the Guild and other smaller crime rings lately and it's a pain. Sometimes, my team and I don't get home until the next morning. I had to sleep in the office once."

The bartender came back with a glass of whiskey on the rocks and a long island ice tea. Levy thanked him and slipped a generous tip across the counter. "Look on the bright side, at least you have Laxus and the gang to keep you busy." She traced the rim of her drink carefully before bringing it to her lips for a sip. "I almost envy how close you are to everyone and how lucky you got, Freed. How come you get your wish but I'm stuck with thousands of failures?"

"Because you still have something worth living for perhaps?" he replied. "How about dropping your ambitions for death and find yourself a nice fellow? You might just surprise yourself when you meet the right one." Freed shrugged and enjoyed his drink for a moment. "Isn't there someone at the agency that strikes your fancy?"

She smiled as she felt the drink burn her throat. "No, Child is already in a relation, not to mention too childish for my tastes. Junichiro has his hands full with proposing to Anderson. Besides, he and Child are both the younger brothers I never wanted. Everyone else is either too old or a woman-."

"-and what about the new one? Atsushi is his name, right?" Freed cut in with a nonchalant tone. "I heard that he's serious enough to foil your antics, a good cook on the weekends, and works directly under you. I also heard that he's pretty strong and has helped you out of a bind already."

Levy paused mid sip and thought out her answer carefully. All she could offer was a moment of silence. After that silence, she mustered a fake smile and gave a botched answer.

"I don't know what Mira tells you behind closed doors but, it could never happen. He's something else that I can't seem to pin down just yet." Her eyes darted across the racks of alcohol. "I'd rather be alone anyways. I don't think there's a single man alive that will put up with a wife who would rather be dead, mixed signals and all that." Levy slouched over the counter. "All of the social pleasantries aside, we should get down to business and fast."

Freed sat up. "I'm listening. You don't drag me away from my normal life for just a random drink." He swept his gaze around the bar, Levy certain that he was checking for those trying to drop in on their conversation. Once he turned back to her and gave an assuring nod, she continued.

"It seems that Jet is back in town and he _sure_ made an appearance. He recently attacked both Atsushi and Anderson under a ruse that he was a client." She narrowed her eyes at her glass. "He diverted my attention elsewhere because he knew that I would be on the investigation team that day as Atsushi's supervisor. I would've noticed him right away and stopped the assault before it began."

Freed's eyebrows arched upwards in shock. "Are you certain that the target was Atsushi? What if it was just a juvenile provocation? Jet loves to toy with the agency on a regular basis and I wouldn't be surprised if that treatment extended to your associates."

Levy shook her head. "There is no way that it was a random attack out in the open, even if the area was police sanctioned. They may be gutsy, but they are far from stupid." She fiddled with the collar of her shirt, feeling an uncomfortable sweat break out on her neck. "Ever since Atsushi was discovered by the ADA and registered, I have noticed a spike criminal activity. Robberies, homicides, kidnappings of government officials have been cropping up out of the woodworks. All of them are smaller gangs but they all have ties with the Port Mafia."

Freed groaned loudly. "Don't remind me. It's been a nightmare trying to compile of the evidence, identities, and locations the past few weeks." He took a longer gulp of his drink before going on. "If I have to stay one more late night, I may just up and leave to pursue my dreams of becoming the next great Fioran author."

Levy shrugged and continued to trace the glass rim. "Stick with your day job and stop complaining about quitting. There is something important about your division being stretched thin both in staff and moral. Someone is trying to cause panic in order to the keep the government from being involved with the Agency but does so indirectly with pawns. That person, most likely the Don, is going to make his move soon and this is only the first step."

Freed looked up in an instant. "Wouldn't they just go after you and the Agency directly knowing that have no control of your practices? It's common knowledge in the underworld that the government is, by law, unable to interfere with the ADA's business practices."

The woman nodded. "Yes, but now that the ' _book'_ has officially been narrowed down to Yokohama, they can't take any risks to lose it. The Mafia must know that you and Laxus are ex-agency members and may assist us in our own search." Her frown deepened which prompted her to take another drink. "Now I can see that the Don is sending me a message that I can't count on you to help. You'll be busy with all of these smaller crime rings running amuck."

Levy chuckled to herself. "There goes plan F. That was my third favorite idea and I wanted to see how it would fare. I guess I'll keep it on the backburner for the Guild."

Freed hummed and rubbed the stubble peppering his chin. "It looks like that will be the case, and I'm plan F? I thought I was higher up than just F?"

Levy just smirked. "At least your not plan X. That one requires a lion and a whole lot of alcohol. Be grateful that you're so high up on my list of ideas and not in the dummy pile." She looked across the counter and saw a cat slink under the bartender's feet with a flick of it's silky tail. "Also, be happy that you won't get caught up in the storm that's coming. You and Laxus both need to be focusing on your lives instead of the Agency's affairs."

Freed stopped mid sip and set down his glass gently to hide frustration that was building in his eyes. His hand clenched into a tight fist. "You know that Laxus and I will be just fine, and so will Evergreen and Bixlow. Our safety is never guaranteed day to day anyway." His glass was back in his hand shortly after recovering from his moment of discomposure. "After everything that you've done for the two of us and all that we've been through, it would be a sin to leave you to fend for yourself."

Levy noticed that he was willing himself from becoming compromised. Her shoulders slumped and she turned to track the cat from before. It settled on the ground as if it owned the very barstool she sat on. "I understand, old friend. I have full intentions to keep you informed on every move I make. Unfortunately, all of those updates will be made face to face. I hope you don't mind, but mail is easily lost, phones and computers can be hacked, and I also need at least a gallon of whiskey a month."

"Gives me an excuse to get out more." he stated plainly. "I think I can set aside some time for you, old friend. If you don't mind, Laxus wouldn't mind meeting up with you once in a blue moon. He's missed you."

Levy smiled and felt a twinge of nostalgia pang in her heart. "I wouldn't mind if he tagged along. He should be in the loop as well, and I've missed that dry sense of humour. Invite him along when you're able to catch some shuteye."

Freed nodded and glanced at the clock on the wall, then at his wristwatch. "Is it already that late?" He down the last few drops of his spiced tea and reached for his wallet in his pocket. "I will pay my share and be on my way then." Levy shooed him off and patted his grabbing arm. "You go back and cuddle with you partner. I'll pick up the bill."

Freed opened his mouth to protest but then refused to at the last second. He gave a nod of appreciation while shouldering on his coat. "Be careful going home and no stopping from anything, even to kill yourself. I'll make sure to keep you updated and send our temp if we find anything of interest. The password will be ' _Donner'_."

Levy gave a thumbs up. "You too, I'll send it through Mira. Same code and some concept."

"I'll be waiting." he replied. He slid on a pair of glasses from his pocket. Levy noticed and rolled her eyes, knowing what the purpose for having them on was. Freed regarded her for a moment and gave her a knowing grin. There was a new glint in his eyes after putting on the spectacles. It was hard to spot at a first glance, but Levy could tell from a mile away.

He had her all figured.

With glasses secured, her drinking buddy gave her a clap on the back and leaned in to whisper one last thing.

"Try to get some sleep yourself tonight. If my ability is correct, your taking the day off to observe that Atsushi Nakajima. Don't let your guard down and be safe."

He pulled away and left without making much of a sound. Levy dropped her cheerful attitude in his wake to slouch over the counter. The cat must've sensed her drop in mood and leapt to stand vigil near her arm. Its white paws stood out against the dark wood while its black fur was glossy under the intimate lights. Levy regarded the feline cooly, but then reached to give a scratch behind its rounded ears. Her gaze brushed over a pink scar over one eye.

"I'll have to scold him later for using _Ultra Deduction_ on me later." she mummered. "It's really getting old." The bartender came over and took away her glass, replacing it with another. This one was a light red with cherries tastefully added on the bottom. There was a light fizz with bubbles decorating the sides in a brilliant array.

Levy accepted the beverage gratefully and slide her dues across the counter. "Keep the change, Warrod. I can spare a little tonight."

Warrod inclined his head and accepted the money. "The Shirley Temple is on the house. If there is anything else, please ask." He left to assist other patrons, leaving Levy alone with the cat. She continued to stroke it's coat with a crooked grin on her face.

"Will I ever be deserving of this life I was given, Pantherlily?"

The cat swished its tail.

" _I haven't a clue."_ his eyes seemed say. " _That's all up to you."_

Levy looked at her hand and noticed that the bandages were beginning to come undone and worn out. Warrod had come back and also caught on to the fact that she was inspecting the fraying pieces of her wrappings. He deftly reached under the bar to pull out a roll of fresh bandages and held them out to Levy.

The woman accepted them and thanked him before he walked off once again. There weren't many words that were exchanged between the two of them, but did there really need to be?

Levy checked to make sure that no one she knew or recognized was in the area before hunching over to hide her arm from sight. Pantherlily perked up his ears and watched Levy as she began to undo the old wraps and replace them.

 _The worst was yet to come for our humble city. I had a bad feeling that night, but what happened next sealed the deal for me. I wish a I would've heeded my old friend's advice a little more closely._

* * *

 **Name:** Freed Justine (Formerly: _Edogawa Rampo)_

 **Height:** 5'9

 **Age:** 34

 **Ability:** Ultra Deduction (unofficial)

Freed Justine has never been one for pity. He is an ex-member of the ADA who had split off with his partner Laxus to work for Yokohama's city government. He has strong ties to the agency, even after breaking off and was a benefactor in bringing Levy into the ranks. His real family is classified history as well as his teenage years. All that is known is that he is glad he isn't young anymore.

Being a detective for a private agency is already difficult. Being government detective takes hard work and grit. There are no better persons for the job Freed Justine. He is an elite member and co-founder of the Time Honored Unified Numbered Defense Enforcement Runners unit (or THUNDER unit for short). Although he didn't come up with the name, he finds it funny how the original creator just wanted to have the unit be referred to as the THUNDER unit.

Freed's "ability", _Ultra Deduction_ , allows for him to solve any mystery or situation that is presented to him simply at a glance. In order to activate, he puts on a pair of glasses given to him as a gift.

 **Likes:** His job, Drinking with Levy, Laxus Dreyar

 **Dislikes:** Coffee, Weapons, Getting a hangover

 **Name:** Warrod James II (Formally: Upton Sinclair)

 **Height:** 6'3

 **Age:**?

 **Ability:** The Jungle

Warrod is a simple man with simple goals: make others happy. Not much is known about this character. He runs a bar in Yokohama by the name of _Park Place_. No one knows how this name came to be, but neither does Warrod. Everyone is on the same page.

Other than Mira, Warrod is the only other informant for the ADA. He works closely with the director in order to have jobs run as smoothly as possible. Other than that, he a generally good man who doesn't say much unless needed.

Warrod's ability, _The Jungle_ allows him complete domain over any establishment that he legally owns. This includes who can see the space, enter, and other special conditions.

 **Likes:** Making drinks, Levy's companionship, Cats

 **Dislikes:** The Port Mafia, Discourse, Unrest

 **Name:** Pantherlily

 **Height:** Unknown

 **Age:** Unknown

 **Ability:** Unknown

Pantherlily is a cat. There's nothing else that can be said at this time.

 **Likes:** Food, Water, Sleep

 **Dislikes:** People, Noise, "Certain Smells"


End file.
